


Recovery

by NoisyNoiverns, xMidnightSun



Series: Rise & Reign [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst, Drabble Collection, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-21 22:56:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2485283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoisyNoiverns/pseuds/NoisyNoiverns, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xMidnightSun/pseuds/xMidnightSun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A month of recovery leaves a lot of time for silly things and emotional bonding. But that doesn't mean it's <i>all</i> fun and games.</p><p>Collection of drabbles taking place between chapters 14 and 15 of <i>After Time Adrift Among the Stars<i>.</i></i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Neighbor and the Krogan

Thie didn’t want to admit it, but he’d gotten used to the relative peace and quiet of his hospital room, only occasionally interrupted by someone coming in to check on him or a fairly nice, older turian doctor who introduced herself as Axilus’ grandmother Corinn, a cardiovascular surgeon that had, she assured him, only married into the Madelivio family and didn’t possess her husband and descendants’ wild, excitable demeanor.

So to say going back to the Madelivio family apartment took some getting used to would be an understatement.

Crux and Raik were apparently still camping out on the balcony, but Kel and Siri had managed to locate a hotel in his absence. Axilus told him the two krogan were also attempting to find a hotel, but there weren’t many places in Cipritine built to withstand krogan, so not much luck there. Thie, meanwhile, was moved into the guest room rather than being dumped back on the couch.

It would have been more of an upgrade if it wasn’t so close to the living room and if the door did a better job of keeping out noise.

“ _Mom!_ The krogan is breathing on me!”

Apparently, a week of exposure hadn’t dulled Tollak’s dislike of Crux any less. Maybe it had something to do with the constant stream of dad jokes coming out of his mouth.

Thie grumbled and reached for his crutches. Only his third day out of the hospital, and he’d figured out that it was very boring and kind of lonely lying in the guest room all day. Sephira had been kind enough to leave his crutches within easy reach, so it only took him maybe ten minutes to get them properly situated under his arms and pick himself up off the bed. He was kind of glad he didn’t have to bother with changing clothes like the turians did.

Maybe five minutes later, he managed to hobble into the kitchen, finding the entire family of turians already up. Axilus and Tollak were playing some sort of card game at the table, the krogan were standing in the far corner, Aephis was digging in the refrigerator…

… and Sephira was glowering at him from the stove. “Why are you walking around?”

Thie blinked, then huffed. “Because bed is boring. What’s going on in here?”

Axilus raised a hand. “We’re behaving. We’re being good. Right, Mom?”

Sephira twitched a mandible. “Yes, Axilus, you’re both being very good. Who’s winning?”

Axilus blinked, then huffed and hunched over. “Tol is.”

“Of course I am.” Tollak puffed up slightly, then leaned to one side and kicked at a chair so it would move out from the table. “Sit down before you fall over, shorty.”

“Manners, Tol,” Sephira said, still giving Thie the sternest look he’d ever seen. And considering “stern” seemed to be the default expression for turians, and he was on their homeworld, that was saying something.

“Sorry, Mom.”

Sephira rolled her eyes, then glanced over her shoulder at Aephis. “Any luck?”

Aephis grunted, standing up and shutting the fridge, now carrying a jug of some sort of pale purple liquid. “No. Looks like you finished off the last bottle yesterday.”

“Damn. Who volunteers to go to the store for more _hicrima_ later?”

While Thie maneuvered himself into the chair, Axilus and Tollak both shot their hands into the air, each one letting out a series of peeps and chirps that made Thie’s audio input crackle. Sephira chuckled and nodded to Tollak, turning back to the stove while Axilus complained, Tollak cheered, and Thie wondered if he’d ever understand turians.

Aephis moved over to lean against the counter next to Sephira, and the brothers were just starting to return to their card game when Thie noticed that Raik was edging away from Crux, a disgusted look on his face and the tips of his fingers in where Thie supposed his ears were. Then he noticed Crux was humming. And steadily getting louder.

“Hmm-hm-hm-hm-hmmm-hm-hm, daaa-da-da-da-daaaa-da-da, it’s a small world-“

And then Tollak screamed.

“ _Mom!_ ” he shrieked, knocking over his chair in his haste to run to his mother. “Mom, it’s singing again!”

Sephira winced, then gently looped an arm around her son’s shoulders. “Easy, Tol,” she soothed. “Calm down, it’s alright. Do you want some tea? I’ll make you some tea.”

“I don’t _want_ tea, I want the krogan to _stop singing!”_

Aephis grunted, covering his ears with his hands. Thie wasn’t sure if it was a response to Tollak’s terrified shrieking or the inane song that apparently only had one stupid and incredibly annoying lyric Crux was singing. “Look at it this way. At least it’s not _dancing_.”

Crux seemed to take that as his cue, because then he did the best imitation of crossed arms a krogan could do and started doing some weird little dance. “Ya-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta, ya-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-“

Raik groaned and removed his fingers from his ears so he could clap his hands over them. “You’re embarrassing our entire race, and I know the battlemaster brothers of Clan Ravanor.”

Crux stopped dancing to grin at him, then blinked when the thudding continued despite his feet not moving anymore. He, like everyone else in the room, looked down at the ground. “Is this place haunted? Because I think I angered the floor ghosts.”

Sephira stared at the floor, then groaned. “It’s haunted, but not by ghosts. By Kotni Tor.”

“Who?”

“The rotund slab of gross meat in the apartment below this one. He hates me because I once let a certain pair of chicks push him down the stairs to see if he bounced. You know, for science.”

“For the record, he totally did,” Axilus put in.

“I counted four bounces,” Tollak added.

Both krogan blinked. Then Raik said, “That’s so cruel. I like it.”

“I keep telling everyone she’s got the attitude of a krogan and the temper of a maw, but does anyone listen to me? Of course not.” Aephis waved a hand in mock disbelief.

Sephira grinned smugly and looked like she was about to say something when her little drone came buzzing in. “Lady Sephira, Kotni Tor is at the door,” it chirped. “Shall I remove him from the premises?”

Sephira grimaced. “Sadly, murder is illegal. Murder of aliens especially so.”

Crux grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.”

Thie barely had time to mutter, “Oh, no,” before Crux was sauntering to the door, swinging his arms in what Thie thought could only be an exaggerated fashion and, surprising no one, singing at the top of his lungs. “I’m waaalkin’ on suuunshiiiiiine, WOA-OHHH…”

The other occupants of the room looked at each other, then rushed to get a good spot to observe the impending chaos. Raik, almost as an afterthought, grabbed Thie and carried him over with him.

Just in time to watch Crux jovially hit the holo-lock, strike up a pose that was probably as close as a gazillion-megatonne krogan could get to “seductive,” and drawl, “Yeeeees?”

Thie couldn’t see anything beyond Crux, but he was sure the volus’ eyes were probably wide behind his mask. There was a _khht_ as the volus inhaled, then said, “Oh.” _Khht_. “Um.” _Khhhhht_. “Never mind.” _Khht_.

Thie could just hear the grin in Crux’s voice. “Oh, you sure? We’d _love_ you to stay for breakfast.”

 _Khht_. “That won’t be necessary.” _Khht_. “I have to go.” _Khht._

Crux shrugged. “Suit yourself. We’ll be waiting if you change your mind.”

The door slid shut, and Crux turned around. He’d only taken three steps back towards the kitchen before everyone besides Thie and Crux himself was shrieking and bellowing with laughter.

Watching the turians around him collapse, arms around their midsections, Thie shook his head. “I should have just stayed in bed.”


	2. The Volus Sentiment

There were a lot of interesting ways to wake up. To a relay jump, to entering and coming out of FTL travel, to krogan arguing over which one of them got the window seat, to the drive core having one heart attack or another... Thie had been pretty sure he'd experienced the weirdest ways to wake up already, and had been pretty okay with that.

And then he woke up to a gaggle of turians yelling at each other about who needed to go get breakfast over mugs of pungent tea.

Well, it was better than waking up to someone screaming in your face. He sat up with a groan, wincing as his visor depolarized and let the first rays of the morning sun in without his permission. Well, now he was _definitely_ awake. Not that he hadn't been before. He vaguely remembered passing out on Sephira's couch the night before, listening to the Madelivio brothers talk to their great-grandmother over the comm. Apparently, the family had decided not to move them, because Kel and Siri were sleeping while leaning against each other on the other couch.

Though not for long, if the Madelivios had anything to say about it.

"I just got back from deployment!" Aephis was arguing, staring down his oldest son with angrily fluttering mandibles. "Send one of the kids, they're young and need the exercise."

"I'm home for fatigue!"

"You can't pull that on me, young man, not after how excited you were for the combat sim!"

"Boys, _enough_." Sephira was massaging just behind her eyes, looking positively exhausted even for the early hour. "It's 0600, we really don't need to be shouting each other down yet."

"Dad's the one who's shouting!"

"No, now _you're_ shouting and thus part of the problem."

"Morning, Thie," Axilus chirped from his seat by the balcony door, waving cheerfully as he hopped up and crossed the room to plop down on the sofa beside him.

Thie sighed. "What in the world are they-"

"I wouldn't ask if I were you, you're liable to get your head ripped off and thrown at the volus downstairs. Tea?" Axilus offered him the mug of tea in his hands, to which Thie politely declined. Then he sat back with a shrug, murmuring, "Your loss," before taking a sip. Then he grinned. "They're arguing over who has to go get breakfast, by the way. Mom's tired, Dad's grumpy, and Tol doesn't know how to cook."

"What about you?"

"I know how to cook, but don't tell them that. I don't wanna cook for four turians, three quarians, and two krogan. Even if cooking for you quarians would be just throwing tubes of paste at your heads."

Thie blinked slowly at him, then slowly shook his head and relaxed back. "Are they going to be arguing much longer? I think they're waking Kel and Siri up." Well, not really. Kel and Siri apparently had suits with proper environmental control units, because they were more than capable of shutting off their aural receptors, tactile sensors, and visors, completely isolating them from the world, which Thie only wished he could do. So they were probably fine. Still, if the argument got much louder, they might end up hearing it through their suits, aural receptors or no, and, well, quarians weren't exactly known for being heavy sleepers. At all.

Axilus shrugged. "Who knows? They might sort it out soon, or they might keep going until all of them are too pissed off at each other to keep talking, and then _no one_ is getting food. I, personally, liked my solution, but they either didn't hear me or didn't give a shit."

"What was your solution?"

"Well, we have krogan who like doing shit, don't we?"

"True." Thie lifted his head, trying to peer out onto the balcony, but neither mound of sleeping krogan was in sight. "I bet they wouldn't mind running an errand if they asked nicely."

"I don't think Dad likes the krogan." Axilus grinned. "He likes being the most physically-imposing thing in this apartment, and those two give him a run for his money."

"All the more reason to send them off on an errand." Thie snorted and added, "Besides, they'd probably get a discount, especially if the store they went to was run by a volus."

"Come to think of it..." Axilus was quiet for a moment, then hopped up so quickly Thie wasn't sure he'd stood up so much as teleported and trotted into the kitchen, waving a hand to get everyone's attention. "Hey, isn't that donut store by the Cipritine Armory outlet run by a volus? One that's terrified of krogan?"

The arguing stopped immediately. Then Sephira eagerly responded, "Are the krogan awake yet?"

Five minutes later, both krogan lumbered into the kitchen, both looking rather amused as Sephira explained what she wanted them to do. "Go to the donut store down the road," she was saying, "the one by the armory. It's run by this grouchy-ass volus with a grudge against me and the entire krogan race."

"Why does it have a grudge against you?" Raik asked, though Thie wasn't sure if he was asking because he was confused or just because it amused him to see her vehement hatred for all volus, whatever the reason for it may be, in person.

"I may or may not have pushed him down thirteen flights of stairs after jacking his suit's olfactory filters to smell like a vorcha's dirty toilet." Sephira sounded far too smug for her own good. "Go in there and do your thing. You know, scare the shit out of him. As a favor to me. And then buy us some donuts for breakfast. I'll get you a list for the dextro ones, and you two can get whatever levo ones you want. That work?"

"So you're asking us to go scare the piss out of a volus for your own kicks, then buy a fuckload of donuts from him and leave like nothing happened."

"Basically, yes."

Crux grinned. "I knew I'd like you, turian. You're all right in my book."

Sephira grinned brightly back and dug a credit chit out of some pocket hidden ancestors-knew-where in her pants. "This should be more than enough to cover the cost. Have fun."

"Oh, we will." Crux grinned at Raik, who just shook his head and chuckled, then accepted the credit chit with a flourish. "Be back in a jiff."

* * *

Half an hour later, Axilus, Aephis, Tollak, Sephira, Thie, Kel, and Siri had all but lost themselves in a heated round of Skyllian Five, wagering chores over credits. Thie had learned very early on in the game that despite wearing an envirosuit that fully covered his face, he had a _terrible_ poker face and was already so deep in fake debt to the other six that he'd surrendered by the third round. Kel and Siri, meanwhile, were quite wonderful at the game, and Kel was just about to go head-to-head against Aephis when a sound at the door made everyone pause.

Thie didn't get a chance to turn around before Axilus and Sephira began laughing, and didn't figure out why until he managed to twist around enough to get a glimpse of the krogan standing in the doorway.

"I come bearing gifts!" Crux bellowed with a broad grin, arms filled with more boxes of donuts than Thie had ever seen in his life. Behind him, Raik stood with a similarly outrageous number of boxes in his hands, stifling a chuckle.

"Spirits, you guys, when I said get donuts, I didn't mean buy out the whole damn store!" Sephira managed to choke out between bouts of laughter, doubling over to press her forehead against the table and laugh. "I wish I could have seen the look on his face!"

Crux couldn't stop grinning as he pranced his way to the kitchen and dumped the boxes on the table. "He sounded like he was about to shit himself a new suit when we got there. Good thing Red came along, I don't think I coulda found the stories to make the little guy piss like he did. And he sounded like he wanted to cry when we asked for the whole goddamn stock." He paused. "Actually, I think he _did_ cry. Can volus cry?"

"I don't know, but that is _amazing!"_ Sephira still hadn't managed to stop laughing, and she didn't look like she intended to stop any time soon. "Well, boys, I guess we're not making breakfast for a few years, huh?"

Axilus gasped, reaching for one of the boxes. "Whoa, look, a whole box of _pretaria_! How much did you pay for this?"

Raik grinned. "For all of 'em? As much as you woulda paid for one box."

"You're shitting me." Aephis's eyes were wider than the separation of his plates should have allowed.

"Nope. Frankly, I'm offended you're questioning my honesty. Oi, Tiny, either eat the donut or don't, don't play with it like a newborn thresher maw." Somewhere behind Axilus, Thie dropped the donut he'd been attempting to levitate in surprise. And then jumped when Axilus spun around, impaled the donut on one talon that looked like it desperately needed a trim, and tossed it in his mouth, swallowing it in one gulp.

"I was trying to use that," Thie complained, sounding just a little offended.

"And I was trying to eat it. Your point?"

"I had it first?"

"And I had it last. Do you want it back?"

Thie put up his hands quickly. "No, no, I'm good."

Sephira finally brought her giggles under control and grinned. "You know, I changed my mind."

"About?" Crux looked up from sifting through the piles of boxes for the levo donuts.

"About my opinion of you krogan. I like you. You can stay."


	3. Birds of a Feather, or Something Like That

“My… mom… has connections.”

Thie was puzzling over that sentence for ages. Exactly what kind of connections did one need to get an autographed poster of _Saren fucking Arterius_? It made no sense, but then, not much about Sephira Actinus did. The Saren poster was just another puzzle piece with all the connecting edges trimmed off.

Thie resolved to ask whenever he got a chance, but Sephira was busy nine times out of ten. She’d bring her work home with her, or Tollak would ask for help with his new rifle, or Axilus would need a hand with whatever task he’d been set to for the day, or Aephis would just be in the room, making Thie want to be in another one but unable to leave because of whatever chore he was helping with as best he could with a broken leg and crutches.

Then one day, about two Palaven weeks after the doctors had agreed to let him out of the hospital, Aephis insisted on doing the grocery shopping so there would be more time for other chores that needed doing before the work week started the next day and she was too tired to do it then. Axilus and Tollak were drafted into helping, Aephis was given a kiss for being thoughtful and then another as a good-bye, and then the apartment was a lot quieter and Thie was alone with Sephira.

Sephira stood with her arms primly folded for a moment, watching the spot where Aephis and her sons had dropped over the balcony to parkour down the building, then nodded to herself and turned to where Thie was sitting at the table. “Right,” she said brusquely, “I’ve got laundry to put away. Think you can handle folding if I show you how?”

Thie blinked and sat back a bit, startled. “I- huh?”

Sephira rolled her eyes. “I did everyone’s laundry, just this once, seeing as Tol will be going back next week and Ax has been behaving himself, and Aephis is hopeless at laundry so I usually do his with mine anyway. Regardless of what Ax might tell you, laundry needs to be folded before it can be put away. And I’m not going to fold everything and put it all away by myself, or that’s all I’d get done today. So you’re going to help me.”

“I- um- okay?”

Sephira sighed and took Thie’s crutches from where they were leaning on the wall, then held them out for him to get under his arms comfortably. “Come on. Ax’s room is closest, we’ll start with him. You go on in, I have to get the basket.”

Thie just nodded slowly, then started hobbling his way to the second door on the right in the hall.

Having only spent time in Axilus’ room while panicking and in desperate need of a nap, Thie suddenly realized that Axilus had a lot more Spectre memorabilia than he’d thought. One wall was lined with shelves, with one long dresser taking up most of the space beneath it. Both the top of the dresser and most of the shelves were covered in figurines and action figures, most of which appeared to depict Spectres, but Thie was also pretty sure he saw an STG regiment and a squad of turians. The two shelves not lined with figures were instead crammed with books, the spines of which boasted collections of the exploits of every Spectre ever all the way back to Beelo Gurji. The other three walls were plastered with posters, mostly with turians, but also with a couple salarians and asari here and there. The nightstand was the only place clear of Spectre memorabilia- because instead of figures or books, there was a battered, dark gray and red helmet with two turian letters, which the translation software in his visor read as N.K., scratched into the side.

And there, above the bed, was a landscape poster of Saren Arterius vaulting over cover, one foot rammed into an enemy’s face, biotics swarming around him like a personal lightning storm. Along the bottom of the poster, Saren himself had scrawled his signature in silver ink. It couldn’t have been a copy, either- there was more than one spot in the signature where the ink faded, in some places disappearing entirely, like the marker had been on its final legs and Saren was wringing one last use out of it before tossing it out.

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

Thie nearly jumped out of his suit, almost landing on his bad leg before shifting his weight. He turned as best he could to see Sephira padding in, a basket of laundry propped up on one hip, looking at the Saren poster.

She continued like he hadn’t just had a heart attack. “Pulled a few strings to get that for Ax’s fifth birthday. Saren even included a note apologizing for all the ink fades. Said Nihlus steals all his pens that still work and never gives them back.”

Thie blinked, watching as she set the laundry basket down on Axilus’ bed, then asked, “Sorry, but- how, exactly, do you get _that_ for a birthday present?”

Sephira paused, then sighed and pulled up her omni-tool, keying in a few commands until a smaller replica of her drone appeared over it. She rotated it slightly, then held it up near the poster. “Take a look at this. What do you see?”

Thie tilted his head a bit, then looked carefully between the drone’s model and the poster. Then he gasped.

Sephira nodded to herself. “Zygomatic spines. A trademark of the Arterius family. Genetic mutation from ages ago that became a permanent fixture in some branches of the clan. As far as I know, the Arteriuses are the only ones who still display it.”

Thie sputtered a bit, then managed to get out, “But _why?”_ Then, a little late, he thought of something. “Did- do you know Saren?”

Sephira made a soft clicking sound. “Tell me what you know about Saren.”

He blinked. “Um, well…” For once, he was glad he’d gotten stuck with the one quarian in the Fleet who knew more about Spectres than probably anyone else. “He’s, uh, he’s a biotic, he’s the youngest turian Spectre ever-“

“I don’t care about his service record. Everyone knows about Saren the Spectre. What do you know about Saren the turian?”

Thie paused. Then shook his head. “Not much.”

She sighed quietly and motioned for him to sit down, pulling out a mass of fabric and starting to sort it out. “Saren Arterius was born in 2113 to a pair of albino turians. Five years later, both of those turians were dead. Saren was taken in by his elder brother.”

Thie tugged a shirt from the mess. “Saren has a brother?”

Sephira nodded. “The drone’s named for him. Solas, short for Desolas.” She sighed again, a little more heavily. “Eight years ago, General Desolas Arterius died in an orbital strike to wipe out a biohazard, sacrificing himself to protect Palaven. The turian people lost a great leader, and a hero.” She sucked in a shuddery breath. “And I lost my best friend.”

Thie blinked slowly, watching her fold a shirt before starting to clumsily copy her. “I don’t understand. How did you know him?”

Sephira paused, then sighed. “Remember how I said I’ve only ever known of two other albino turians in my life?”

He nodded, and she continued, “Saren’s one. Desolas was the other.”

She set down the shirt she’d just folded and started another one. “He was fifteen years older than me. Nineteen years older than Saren, but that’s irrelevant. We only met because a couple months into boot camp, another male took advantage of me and tricked me into having sex with him. I thought he genuinely cared about me.” Her hands tightened in the fabric. “Then I overheard him bragging to his friends about how he totally banged the albino bitch the night before, and how porn just didn’t do it justice.” A low snarl rolled its way out of her mouth. “Couple days later, I got called in before his COs to explain why I’d beaten the shit out of him with my rifle. Desolas- he was just a lieutenant back then- was one of them. I think he knew the moment I put my hood down. He had this look in his eyes, like he knew exactly what I had to deal with and was sorry I had to explain to the pigmented, ignorant assholes on the little panel with him.

“He tracked me down at dinner that night. Didn’t even ask if he could sit with me. Just plunked his pretty ass down and started talking.” She smiled a little. “At the time, I thought he was some arrogant asshole who’d get bored eventually and leave. Shows how much I knew.

“I figured out he wasn’t going away, so I started answering him while he talked, and before I knew it, I had a lieutenant tagging along with me every chance he got, looking out for me. We figured out it’d be easier to drive away fetishizing assholes if we just acted like a couple. Birds of a feather, you know?” She set down the shirt she’d been folding and grabbed another. “You going to fold that or not, kid?”

Thie blinked, then realized he’d only half-folded the shirt he’d originally grabbed and hastily finished, placing it neatly in the pile that was getting started and pulling out another. “So… you became friends because you beat the shit out of someone?”

Sephira chuckled. “Spirits, we weren’t even friends at first. We just looked out for each other. Turians evolved to hunt in groups, did you know that? Easier to catch prey if you have a group of predators to herd the next meal into the best place to drop onto it from above and snap its spine. Because we’re so rare, we albino turians tend to keep to ourselves, so having Desolas around keeping an eye on me… It made me feel better, I guess. Less alone.” She shrugged. “Then one night, my squad was going out to a bar in the nearby town to get plastered. I didn’t want to be anywhere near anyone who might be drunk enough to try something with the albino girl, so Desolas let me hang out in his quarters. He had a stash of alcohol under his bed, so we ended up getting drunk, just the two of us.” She chuckled and shook her head. “I woke up the next morning naked in his bed, with him holding me against his chest. Spirits, I wish I could remember that night better.”

Thie blinked rapidly. That was a leap. “You went from looking out for each other to having sex?”

Sephira threw back her head and laughed. “Yep,” she crowed. “We agreed that that was probably a mistake, but if it happened again, oh well. Then it actually did happen again, only we were sober. Turns out there’s nothing quite like waking up naked next to somebody to make you realize just how very attractive you think they are.” She hummed thoughtfully. “You know, none of the albino porn I’ve ever stumbled across has featured two albinos. It’s always some fetish fantasy about a pigmented turian fucking some albino. They’re missing out.” She smiled, moving to help Thie untangle the shirt that had decided it quite liked his cast and wanted to stay with it forever from around his arm. “There’d be times where I couldn’t tell where I ended and he began. I woke up sometimes with his head tucked up against my neck, and I swear, his markings were pulsing with every beat of my heart. Spirits, he was so beautiful. Some mornings I had trouble making myself go to my own squad, I wanted to lie in bed with him all day that badly. No training, no formalities… just a warm, comfortable room and the beautiful man next to me.”

Thie hesitated, then tilted his head and asked quietly, “Did you love him?” It sure sounded like love. Or what everyone said love was like, anyway.

She was quiet a moment, then shrugged and took the small pile of shirts, moving to put them away in their proper place. “Yes, I did. Desolas made me feel like it didn’t matter that I was albino, because if this one man could look past my condition and like what he saw, then maybe somebody else could, too. I guess by loving me, and me loving him back, Desolas taught me to love myself.”

“But aren’t you, you know, not supposed to be in a relationship with your superiors?”

Sephira flicked a mandible dismissively. “He wasn’t linked to me militarily in any way, so regs were fine with it, as long as it didn’t interfere with our duties in any way. Came close plenty of times, but it never did.”

Thie briefly considered trying to fold something else, then decided he didn’t need any more turian clothing making love to his cast. “So, if you liked him so much, why did you marry Aephis?”

She shrugged, moving back the laundry basket. “I was with Desolas for three and a half, four years. Then my training was over, and I was assigned to the HSV _Villentos_. We decided, since I was still young and Desolas was my first relationship, we should separate until my mandatory was over, then see where we stood. He gave me the schematics for the drone as a gesture of goodwill. ‘To watch your six when I can’t,’ he said. Loser.” Her mandibles quivered in a tiny smile. “Two years after that, this big, stupid A-Spec sergeant held my hand while I was scared, and I’m guessing you can figure out where things went from there.”

Thie considered this, then asked, “How did Desolas react?”

Sephira grinned. “I sent him a wedding invitation. He vid-commed me pretty much the moment he got it. He was so happy for me, you could practically see his whole face lit up. He showed up to the wedding in full dress blues and threatened Aephis with the wrath of his entire family if he hurt me. Once Aephis got it across that he had no intention of doing anything of the sort, they got along just fine.”

She pulled out the last pieces of clothing from the basket, then moved across the room to the closet tucked neatly into the corner. “Desolas was welcome in our home after that. He didn’t come around very often because of work, but when he did, it was always a good thing. Once we had Tollak, he just sort of became an honorary uncle. Wasn’t even planning on that, but he didn’t seem to mind. He was good with the kids. Probably from taking care of Saren, I suppose. Ax and Tol adored him. I swear they knew most of his stories were either made up or exaggerated, but they didn’t care because he told them so well.”

She was quiet for a bit, smile slowly turning into a scowl. “And then the damn idiot got himself tangled up in some mess at Temple Palaven and _died_. Asshole.” She hung up Axilus’ clothes, then stamped back to the basket with a derisive snort. “Took me months to get over it. Do you know how hard it is to cope with the loss of your first love?” She shook her head. “Everyone thinks ‘broken heart’ is just a metaphor.”

Sephira was shaking. Thie didn’t quite know what to say to that, so he just stayed quiet and waited as she gained control of herself. Slowly, the shaking stopped, and she let out a long, slow exhale. “Sorry about that,” she said quietly. “Eight years, and it’s still hard to remember he’s never coming back.”

 _Never coming back_.

The words reverberated in Thie’s head, but not in Sephira’s feminine, dual-toned voice. Instead, he heard a heavily-accented, definitely masculine voice.

 _She’s never coming back! And it’s_ all his fault _!_

Thie opened his mouth to say something- _you remind me of my father_ \- but was cut off by the sound of the front door opening, somebody cursing, and Sephira’s head snapping around so fast Thie was surprised it didn’t pop right off. Then Sephira practically vanished from the room, leaving only the sound of her calling for the returning turians not to drop any groceries trailing behind her as she dashed to help.

Thie listened to the turians bustle around and the apartment kick back up to its usual level of activity as his father’s grief echoed in his skull.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the record show that Desolas is an ass and Sephira is viewing her experiences with him through rose-colored glasses.
> 
> Saren's birth year in canon is 2139, putting him at 18 during the events of Evolution. Given everything they have him do, I call bullshit. So now he was born 26 years earlier. We've actually done a handful of edits of canon, just to make everything be a bit more logical- for example, an 18-year-old soldier wouldn't be trusted at the right hand of a general, not even his elder brother, and if said general specifically requested such, that would be highly suspicious. A 44-year-old, on the other hand, would feasibly have the experience needed to be trusted in that sort of situation.
> 
> And yes, we headcanon the Arterius brothers as albino, due to their coloration in the comics: both brothers have blue skin, whereas other turians have the reddish or brownish skin you see more commonly. Add that to their plates being snow-white, and you get albino turians. Surprise!


	4. Beware of Turian Social Hour

The guest room in Sephira’s apartment wasn’t so bad. It was just that it was damn _dull_. So when Sephira offered to let Thie move to the couch so he wasn’t constantly hobbling up and down the hall, he pounced on the opportunity.

What he’d forgotten to anticipate was that turians were a very social people and rather liked spending as much time as possible in a room where they could talk to multiple people at once.

Seven days of ten, Thie would be woken by Sephira getting ready for work, usually by making tea and breakfast while Aephis kept her company in the kitchen. Then they’d eat, and Aephis would walk her to work. By the time he got back, Axilus and Tollak would be awake and having discussions that were oddly deep and philosophical for the morning over a breakfast of cold leftovers and hot tea. And then they’d all find some way to occupy themselves, almost always in the same room as Thie.

Today’s activity was, unexpectedly, talon care.

Aephis had apparently taken one look at his sons’ hands and set to scolding them something fierce for letting their natural-grown instruments of pointy death get so long and untidy, because the moment the not-quite-yelling, not-quite-moderate-volume voice in the kitchen quieted, the two younger turians went scuttling down the hall, and Aephis came trundling out of the kitchen, sat down on the couch not currently occupied by a laid-up quarian, pulled the coffee table closer to him so he could set his mug of tea down, and sat back to wait.

Thie was considering asking if there was any tea left he could have when Axilus and Tollak came bounding back. The brothers sat down on opposite sides of the coffee table on the floor near their father, and each put something on the table. Tollak unrolled what appeared to be swath of fabric with straps and pouches sewn on to hold the many tools inside, while Axilus started meticulously arranging little jars of some sort of paint. Then both of them put their hands in their laps, inspected the items in front of them, and then looked up at their father expectantly.

Aephis looked over what they’d brought, then nodded and held out a hand to Tollak, who placed one hand in his father’s almost immediately. Thie blinked, then finally asked, “What are you doing?”

Aephis grunted. “Talon filing. Because _apparently_ , these idiots decided they didn’t need to take care of their talons and make sure they wouldn’t break or chip or crack- which is _very_ painful, for the record- while they were away from home. Don’t you boys _ever_ listen to your mother? I know for a _fact_ she reminded you to file your talons at _least_ once a week.”

Axilus whined. “But _Dad!_ It _hurts!_ ”

“It’ll hurt more if you get a crack or a chip. Or worse, break it off. Take care of your damn talons, Ax. Now hush and find some way to occupy yourself while you wait your turn. And no ESAR, either, it’s rude.”

Thie tilted his head. “ESAR?”

“Encrypted Speech Among Recruits,” Aephis clarified. “Turians doing their mandatory use it to sneak messages past COs who might not exactly need to know what they’re saying. It’s constantly evolving just to make sure the higher-ups never fully understand what they’re saying, so what, say, my little brother learned in basic won’t match up with what these two learned. And it’s rude as hell to use it in front of your father, boys, especially your _military_ father. If _either_ of you even _thinks_ of using it, I’ll let your mother know I had to do your talons for you because you didn’t want to fix them up yourselves.”

The two younger turians looked at each other, mandibles dropping, then back up at their father and let out distressed trills. “You wouldn’t!” Axilus whined at the same time that Tollak protested, “Dad, don’t you love us?”

Aephis silenced them with a glower, then leaned over and delicately pulled a long, thin piece of metal from the bag of tools. “Hold still, Tollak. I know it hurts, but you have to deal with it if you don’t want your talons breaking.”

Tollak huffed but looked away as his father took the metal file to the talon on the smaller of his two fingers, positioning his hand so Tollak’s thumb and longer finger were out of the way. Axilus, meanwhile, gave his brother a sympathetic look and pulled up his omni-tool. “Dad, do you think Mom would notice if we hooked up Solas to manage our messages, too?”

“Absolutely. Don’t try it unless you feel like joining your great-grandfather in the next plane, you know how touchy she is about that drone.”

Axilus pouted but let the topic drop, looking down at his omni-tool to start checking his messages on his own while Aephis continued filing a fidgety Tollak’s talons. Almost as an afterthought, he reached up and grabbed the remote, then tossed it carefully to Thie. “Here. Find something to watch. It’ll cover up the noise.”

Thie listened, then realized that the file on Tollak’s talon was indeed making a small but irritating little shriek, and he quickly turned on the vid screen and turned up the volume until he couldn’t hear Tollak’s manicure anymore.

Maybe three minutes later, Thie had found a news station and was settling in to listen to a report on the progress of the human Spectre candidate when Axilus suddenly closed his omni-tool and shifted positions, curling his legs up closer to his chest. He leaned back like he’d just been getting comfortable, but Thie noticed his neck was considerably more blue than it usually was. “What?”

“Nothing,” Axilus said innocently, folding his hands in his lap.

Tollak snorted. “Spirits, Ax, go take a shower. A cold one.”

Aephis’ mandibles fluttered, amused. “Ax, did you forget your friend’s the only one here who can’t smell and hear you right now? You’re a terrible liar.”

Thie blinked. “Am I missing something?”

Tollak laughed. “Yeah, that Ax _reeks_.”

Aephis put a hand on Axilus’ crest, making him stop slowly edging away. “Be nice, Tol. He’s just excited because he hasn’t seen his girlfriend in weeks.”

Axilus’ neck flared blue again. “She’s not my girlfriend!”

Aephis and Tollak looked at each other, then burst out laughing. Thie, meanwhile, frowned, then held up a hand. “Wait, wait. Girlfriend? I thought he was gay.”

The older two turians managed to bring themselves under control, and Tollak put his hand back in his father’s to resume being filed. “Ax? Gay? Nah.” Tollak waved his free hand dismissively. “He’s the bi-est bi ever to bi.”

“Which means… what, exactly?”

Tollak lowered one mandible and raised the opposite brow plate. “You don’t know what bi means.”

“I think my translation software is out-of-date, actually.”

“Oh. Well, that makes more sense.” Tollak accepted the file from his father and handed him a pair of curved clippers. “My dear sweet baby brother-“

Axilus made a sound of protest. “You’re not _that_ much older than me!”

“My _baby brother,_ ” Tollak said with a smirk at Axilus, “is bisexual. So he’s not explicitly into just one gender. Though if you look at his extranet history, he’s explicitly _Spectre_ -sexual.”

“Spirits, Tol, can’t you just shut up?”

Raising his voice over his brother’s protests, Tollak continued, “So he could be attracted to Freiya, he could be attracted to the Naeviurius twins, he could be attracted to the asari down the hall… Hell, he could be attracted to you, I don’t know. Ax, are you into quarians?”

“Dad, make him stop!” Axilus wailed, shaking Aephis’ leg.

Aephis just sighed and positioned the clippers around the tip of one of Tollak’s talons and snipped it off, drawing a yelp from his son. “Be nice, Tol.”

“I barely even said anything!”

“You could at least let him explain it himself.”

“Too late. Ow!” Tollak complained as Aephis snipped off another talon-tip.

Thie frowned and looked between the three turians, then finally settled on looking at Axilus. “You said you were gay.”

Axilus fluttered his mandibles and looked away. “Well, you were making a big fuss about Freiya, and I wanted you to calm down, and I dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the time…”

“Oh look, the Madelivio family motto,” Aephis muttered. “Calm down, Tol, I only took off a centimeter. Pick a sealant already.”

Tollak pouted but started shuffling around the little jars of color. “Ax, did you use all the blue?”

“Nuh-uh,” Axilus said. “I think Mom might’ve, though. It smelled like she was sealing her talons a couple nights ago, and she likes blue tips.”

Thie blinked. Turians, or at least these turians, seemed to have a knack for switching topics at the blink of an eye. “What’s that stuff?”

“Talon sealant,” Aephis told him. “Strengthens the keratin and prevents it from cracking, chipping, or just straight-up breaking. I’ve seen turians who didn’t take care of their talons and broke them right down to the bone core. People like that get pictures taken of their hand and used to scare little kids into taking care of their talons.” He glowered at his sons. “ _Usually_ , the lesson sticks.”

Aephis didn’t continue until after both younger turians had muttered an apology. “Sealants come in a bunch of different colors to encourage use. Sort of like a fashion statement, I guess.” He flicked out one mandible. “Seph likes to use a sealant the same shade of green as her markings, then dip them in a blue one the shade of turian blood and claim it’s the blood of her enemies. Most are inclined to believe it, last I checked.”

Thie just stared for a moment, then shook his head, turning back to the news in time to hear the asari anchor begin a new story about a missing drell kid. “This fucking family, I swear...”


	5. Sephira Actinus, Queen Among Moms

Thie swore turian mothers had a sixth sense for negative emotions.

Or at least, Sephira did.

Tollak was upset about his peaceful medical leave being disturbed? Sephira materialized next to him on the couch, ready with a cup of tea and a tight hug. Axilus couldn’t sleep? Sephira made a trip to work on an off day and came back with a clearly well-loved asari doll apparently named ‘Jaera’ that Axilus was downright ecstatic to see and sat with him until he fell asleep, singing in the closed dialect to help him calm down. Aephis was grumpy? Sephira gave him a kiss and told him to give her a couple minutes to make sure everyone else was comfortable, and then he could have her undivided attention and affections.

“She’s a little off, sure,” Axilus told Thie once. “But I don’t know if we could function without her. She’s… Mom, you know? She takes care of us.”

Thie supposed it shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did when Sephira returned from work one day, noticed him brooding on the couch, placed a hand on his shoulder, and told him to wait a minute before turning and calling, “Boys!”

He heard a bit of scuffling, then the arguing that usually accompanied Axilus and Tollak, followed by Aephis’ exasperated grumbling. Sephira didn’t seem to mind, clicking her mandibles and telling them briskly, “Aephis, you can go back to whatever you were doing. Ax, Tol, go visit your grandmother at the hospital. She’d love to see you two.”

There must have been something in her tone saying she didn’t want to hear any arguments, because moments later, Aephis was plodding back down the hall and his sons were taking running leaps off the balcony with calls of, “Bye, Mom! We’ll be back for dinner!”

Sephira made a satisfied noise, then walked back around the couch and sank into what Thie had come to learn was her spot, a ratty rocking chair with mismatched wood where repairs had been made. “What good boys,” she said, more to herself than to him.

Thie looked at her, blinking. “Um… Their grandmother is in the hospital?”

“Hm? Oh.” She waved a hand. “Doctor Corinn Madelivio. Registered surgeon. Cardiovascular, to be specific. Aephis' mother. Wonderful woman. The boys love her. You met her while you were there, remember? But that’s not the topic at hand here.” She settled back in her seat and started gently rocking the chair. “You’re upset about something.”

He jumped slightly. “How’d you know?”

She shrugged. “Call it a mother’s intuition. I swear, it just kind of popped into existence as a skill I had the moment Tol was born. Couldn’t figure a single damn thing the kid wanted while I was pregnant, then he’s born and boom, I know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it. And after twenty-two years, it hasn’t diminished in the slightest. So don’t try to tell me nothing’s wrong, because I know damn well something’s wrong.”

He stared for a moment, then started to fidget as she lapsed into silence, clearly waiting for him to spill. He thought for a moment, then heaved a sigh. He supposed he wouldn’t be able to get out of it. Turian mothers could probably smell lies. “Just thinking about the slaver ship, I guess,” he said quietly. “I mean, what if I did die on that ship, and all this is just some weird dream I’m having before I go to the ancestors? What if the slavers come back to finish what they started? What if-“

Sephira crossed the space between them in seconds, placing a well-groomed talon against his speaker. “Shh. Don’t dwell on it. It makes the memories worse.”

He looked up at her, and she withdrew, folding her arms and looking thoughtful. “Wait here,” she said simply, then turned and loped away, apparently forgetting it was hard to go anywhere with a busted leg.

He sighed and settled in to wait. From down the hall, he heard distant laughter and “That was _terrible!_ ” in the least-serious tone he’d ever heard Sephira use. Then she came trotting back, settling down in her chair and setting down a handful of pencils and a bundle of paper.

He looked at her and tilted his head. “What was terrible?”

“Hm? Oh.” She shrugged. “Aephis is cleaning his guns. When I walked in, it happened to look like he was flexing while he took apart his shotgun, so he looks me dead in the eyes and says, ‘Hey, baby, come here for the gun show?’” She rolled her eyes with an amused flutter of her mandibles, then leaned over and tapped his elbow. “Sit up,” she instructed. “As best you can, anyway. It’ll be easier if you’re sitting up.”

“What’ll be easier?” he asked, doing as told.

Sephira started spreading out the papers, revealing a small pile of clean sheets and a collection of sketches. “I’m not much for comforting. Not with aliens, anyway. Give me a crying baby turian, I’ll have him perfectly alright in a matter of minutes. Aliens are another matter entirely. I can do it for a couple minutes, but I don’t know enough about your physiology to do much better than rub your shoulder and make calming noises. Pretty sure aliens don’t like having teeth run down their necks. Works like a charm on turians, but you aliens are all too soft and fleshy. I’d draw blood. Or, you know, tear the suit.”

Thie fidgeted. “Yeah, let’s not do that.”

She chuckled to herself and started neatly arranging the papers. “Thought you wouldn’t like that. So instead I thought I’d show you a little tactic I picked up… Oh, eight years ago, I’d say.”

He stilled. Eight years ago. Everything seemed to hinge on that for this family somehow. He racked his brain, trying to remember if they’d said what was so important that happened eight years ago.

_“Eight years ago, General Desolas Arterius died in an orbital strike to wipe out a biohazard, sacrificing himself to protect Palaven. The turian people lost a great leader, and a hero. And I lost my best friend.”_

Sephira’s words from a couple days ago rang through his head. _Oh_. “Because of..?”

Sephira glanced at him, then nodded. “I wasn’t much of an artist before that. But then Desolas died, and I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. So I just picked up a pencil and started drawing. It seems to have worked.” She took a piece of paper and a pencil, then glanced around for a moment before picking up a big, thick book from the coffee table and handing everything to him. “Be careful with that book. It was the boys’ favorite when they were little. I’d like to read it to my grandchildren one day, if I ever have any.”

Thie glanced at the cover at the book. Apparently, it was a big, illustrated collection of old turian myths. Settling the paper over the cover, he briefly wondered what kind of myths turians had, then shrugged off the thought and positioned the pencil over the paper.

And then stopped. “What do I draw?”

Sephira shrugged, glancing up from her own paper. “Whatever you want. Could be a memory, could be speculation…” She rifled through the drawings on the table. “I had it somewhere… Here.” She tugged a sheet of paper out from the pile, then held it out so he could see the turian chicks with… what had she called them? Zygomatic spines, or something like that, jutting out from their cheeks. “I wanted to see if I could picture what Ax and Tol would have come out looking like if I’d married Desolas instead of Aephis. This was a couple weeks after his death. It doesn’t matter what you draw, so long as you let the negativity flow out through that pencil and leave it behind on the paper. You don’t even have to have a set image in your head, just start drawing and see what you make.”

He just stared at her, and she sighed. “And everyone keeps telling me quarians are smart. How old are you, again?”

He tilted his head slightly. What did that have to do with anything? “Twenty.”

“Twenty years old, and he can’t grasp the concept of doodling. Only a third through my lifespan, and I’ve already seen anything.” Sephira rolled her eyes and pulled up her omni-tool. “Solas.”

The little drone flickered into existence and buzzed a circle around her head before stilling in view. “How may I be of service, Lady Sephira?”

“Do we still have those 3D renderings of a _kori_ from Ax’s science project two years ago?”

“One moment.” The drone’s form rotated a moment, the spines on either side spinning around the center, then it returned to upright position and bounced once. “Yes, Lady Sephira.”

“Project it, please.”

“Right away, Lady Sephira.” The drone flickered for a moment, then projected an image of some sort of lizard with a long, curved neck, stumpy legs, and long, sharp-looking spines jutting out of its head and continuing on down its neck, across its back, and down its tail, which ended in a painful-looking bundle of the things.

Thie leaned over as best he could to get a better look. “What’s that?”

“ _Kori_ lizard,” Sephira said, already turning back to her own drawing. “Incredibly sacred animal native to Palaven. Legends say the spirit of Palaven takes the form of a great, blind _kori_ with a roar that could put out Trebia’s flames, if they were so inclined. Which, thankfully, they’re not. They just want to sleep.” She chuckled softly. “Whenever a turian of legend went to speak with the Palaven spirit, they were always said to come back with the surest step of any turian alive, because the spirit would be so annoyed about being woken up, they would roar and roar until either the offending party fell down or they ran out of breath. Only the ones who stayed standing were allowed an audience.” She glanced at him for half a second, then back down at her own paper. “Try drawing it. Just draw what you see. Easier than trying to come up with something on your own.”

“Oh… Okay, I can try…”

“That’s more like it.”

Thie squinted at the hologram of the _kori_ , then put his pencil to paper and started slowly trying to transfer the image to two dimensions. It was harder than Sephira made it seem. The lizard’s tan hide was littered with curvy russet stripes, similar to a Terran beast he’d seen a picture of once- a “tiger” or something like that, and the conflicting lines made it difficult to tell where one part of the lizard ended and a new one began. Even the neck was hard. He just couldn’t get the curve right. It was either too thin, or too wide, or too uneven.

He had maybe half the lizard’s back done, with quick swipes of the pencil where the spines should go, when he decided to just give up and switch to watching Sephira. She must have been finishing an earlier sketch, because she’d switched her regular pencil for a colored one, a pretty-looking orange. He tried to discreetly crane his neck and see what she was working on.

Apparently he wasn’t discreet enough, because she glanced up at him and twitched a mandible, raising a brow plate. “Done already?” she drawled in a voice that said she knew he wasn’t.

He shook his head sheepishly. “It’s hard.”

She chuckled softly. “I understand. It’s not something you’re immediately good at. Before Desolas died, I only made graphics sketches. You know, for engineering design stuff. A lot of early drawings turned out pretty ugly. It just takes practice.”

He nodded in acknowledgement, then fidgeted. “Can I see what you’re working on?”

She paused, then shrugged and set her pencil down. “Don’t see why not.” She shifted in her seat and held the paper out for him to see.

He looked over it, squinting a bit. “Is that Axilus?” The tiny turian didn’t look much like Axilus, with stubby little mandibles and short, blunted spikes behind his brow plates that, based on their location, would eventually grow into a magnificent crest, but Thie couldn’t think of another red-brown turian chick Sephira would know enough to draw.

Sephira nodded proudly. “His first hunt.” She tapped the orange liquid dribbling out of the chick’s mouth. “An _aculpes_ beetle. Pretty much harmless to turians, krogan, and drell, since we all have scales of some sort, but you fleshier ones tend to think them nuisances. If one lands on you, your skin stings where it landed. It’s got barbs on its feet to help it stay on larger animals that will unknowingly carry it to a new location. One with food, if it picks the right carrier. Most animals on Palaven have at least some sort of tough hide, so we usually don’t notice anyway, but every now and then, one will land on some poor chick’s neck…” She smiled indulgently at the picture, mandibles fluttering slowly.

Thie was quiet for a moment, then, when it looked like she wasn’t going to continue, cleared his throat. “So you teach your kids to hunt insects?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, when they’re little. Once they’re bigger, we start gradually moving them up to bigger and bigger prey. It’s all to prepare them for the big three-day ceremony when they get their markings. The first day is when they’re presented to the clan, then the second is a day-long hunt when they’re expected to bring back the biggest prey they could find. They’re given a sidearm, but that’s only for emergencies. They have to kill the prey on their own unless it’s absolutely necessary they shoot. Then the third day, they’re welcomed into the clan and given their markings, since they’ve proven they can provide for themselves and others should the need arise.”

Thie stared. “That’s kind of…” He trailed off, trying to think of a nice way to say “uncivilized.”

Sephira chuckled. “Primitive? Savage? Barbaric? Maybe, maybe. But it’s one of our oldest traditions- well, except the gun part, that bit’s a more recent addition to make sure more kids survive than die. Nowadays, they’ll still be accepted into the clan, but back then, if you couldn’t bring back food, you’d get turned away. Then they’d leave and either join another clan or form their own with other outcasts. So we train our kids to hunt pretty much from the moment they can run. Besides, a lot of our military’s training tactics build off the skills they learn as kids being taught to hunt. They just change the prey you’re hunting and teach you to adapt your strategy accordingly. Hunting a _cornin_ , you climb up a tree or a sheer rock face slowly and patiently. Hunting a biped alien with a gun, you shimmy up that sucker like Trebia themselves lit your toes on fire, because most aliens can run a hell of a lot faster and kill you a hell of a lot better than the prey you want to bring back for your induction ceremony.”

Thie stared. Talking to Sephira was like pressing the “try me” button on literally anything. One careless statement, and she just went on and on.

Hell, this time he didn’t even have to say anything before she was rifling through her drawings again, muttering under her breath about how she could’ve _sworn_ she’d seen it earlier.

He was just about to ask what she was talking about when she pulled another piece of paper from the pile with a triumphant, “Ah- _ha!_ ”

She glanced over the drawing with a smile, chest puffed up with pride, then she handed it to him with a flourish. “Look at this.”

He blinked for a moment, then took it. There was a large mound of armor lying curled up on the couch, with a couple of turian chicks balanced precariously at the top of the backrest, crouched like they were preparing to pounce. Closer inspection showed the mound of armor had a long, tapering crest sticking out of one end, and loosely-curled feet on the other. “Is this..?”

“Desolas,” Sephira said simply, mandibles falling into an easy smile. “And Ax and Tol. The mighty hunters,” she added with a chuckle. “Spirits, I told them to leave him be, but they didn’t listen. He was exhausted, just came back from a several-month deployment and didn’t feel like walking the extra twenty minutes to his place, so I let him crash on the couch until he got enough energy back to go home. But the boys hadn’t seen him in ages, and they didn’t like that he didn’t even say hi to them before taking a nap. So they hatched a little plan to ‘hunt’ Uncle Solas.”

“How’d he take that?” If the position Sephira had drawn him in was any indication, Desolas had been pretty intent on getting his sleep.

Sephira laughed. “Oh, spirits, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so annoyed. He got up like he was going to kick their asses from here to geth space and back, but he must’ve remembered I don’t take too kindly to anyone making my babies cry, and Axilus was working himself up to squall, he was so scared. So instead he just picked them up, tossed them into the guest room- and I mean he literally just threw them onto the bed, mind you, he was never very gentle when he was pissed- locked them in there, and went back to the couch and went back to sleep like nothing happened. It was funny, later, but at the time I could’ve strangled him. He wasn’t allowed to leave the apartment until he’d apologized and said hello properly.”

Thie stared. What was up with this family? “You got a turian general, who’s related to _Saren_ , to apologize like a misbehaving five-year-old.”

Sephira grinned. “If there’s one thing all turians know, it’s that if you fuck up and mistreat turian chicks, you’d better put your best apology subvocals on and hope their mother is in a forgiving mood. Even generals cower before the power of Mom.”

Thie just stared, and Sephira took back her papers, looking over them fondly. “They forgave him pretty easy. Spirits, they couldn’t stay upset with Uncle Solas, they adored him.”

Thie blinked. “What was he like?”

“Desolas?” Thie nodded, and Sephira hummed, mandibles making small circles. “How to describe Desolas Arterius… He wasn’t like Saren, that’s for sure. Saren’s the grumpiest misanthrope this side of Omega. But he’s got the same sort of… charisma, I guess, that Desolas had. People just sort of gravitate towards them, or turians do, anyway. Don’t know about aliens. But Desolas knew how to work it. That man could convince you a varren was a thresher maw if he wanted to. Best leader we had. He was well-respected for a reason. You don’t get to be a general if nobody will follow you, and anybody who met him would follow him to the ends of the galaxy and back again. Generals are damn celebrities for us, and Desolas was no different.” She sighed. “I was so proud to be his friend.”

Thie was quiet for a moment. “He sounds like he was great.”

She chuckled. “Well, he wasn’t perfect, but he was my friend, so I put up with him. Especially at the beginning, when it was more of a mutually beneficial arrangement than actual friendship. Spirits, I just didn’t want to be alone, not after finding somebody like me. He was arrogant, he was belligerent, he was impulsive… and spirits, he could have had ‘racist’ tattooed on his forehead and been less obvious. But he was strong, and kept people from hurting me… And he was like me. I’d never met another albino, and here one was, talking to me and making me feel like I was worth more than what some porn director might pay me to spread my legs. I wanted to be confident, like him. And the more I talked to him and spent time with him, the more I felt like a real person and less like a walking fetish. So I put up with the bragging, and the aggression, and the supremacy. And every now and then, he’d say something he didn’t mean to and be verbally abusive. I didn’t let him get away with that part, and he was always the picture of shame when I called him out on it. To his credit, he did start gradually getting better about watching his tongue. But I swear, he still managed to teach Ax and Tol to be racist and crass and all of that.” She snorted and shook her head. “Asshole.”

Thie was getting the sneaking suspicion that he should just stop talking to Sephira about anything, because he could never get a word in edgewise. So that was where Axilus got it.

He was about to try to change the subject when Aephis came plodding out of the hall, stretching his arms over his head as he drifted over to Sephira. “Are we criticizing Desolas? Because that _obrach_ died before I could kick his ass in clawball, and I still haven’t forgiven him for it.”

Sephira rolled her eyes and twitched a mandible, leaning into the hand that Aephis scratched the exposed skin beneath her jaw with. “I would’ve thought you’d have worse to say about him, Aephis. Remember our wedding?”

“Sure, the bastard scared me out of my plates. But I don’t speak ill of the dead, Seph, you know that. It’s just asking for them to come back and haunt my sorry ass.”

Sephira snorted. “Please. I speak ill of him all the time, and nothing’s happened to me.”

“That’s because _you_ were his friend. _I_ , on the other hand, was the lucky son of a bitch who managed to propose first.”

Thie looked between the two turians, dearly wishing his leg wasn’t encased in a heavy cast so he could leave and get away from all the weird social tendencies of married turians. What was even with this family? Could all turians switch topics and moods this damn fast? Just how much had the extranet lied to him?

His unnerved internal rambling was interrupted by a clamor from the balcony, then toe-claws on the floor as Axilus and Tollak returned. “We’re back!” Axilus practically chirped, making a running leap onto the couch next to Thie’s and bouncing up into a sitting position.

Tollak followed his brother more slowly, walking at a leisurely pace and sitting on the opposite end of the couch from his brother. “Mom, Grandma says to stop by their apartment on your way back from work. She’s got some stuff of ours to return. She’ll still be at the hospital, but Granddad will be there,” he recited, flicking his mandibles and stretching out so his feet rested in Axilus’ lap.

Sephira raised a brow plate and chuckled. “Alright, I’ll make a note of it. What else did she say?”

 “She said to tell Dad she knows he hasn’t scheduled his next appointment yet, and she knows he’s almost due for one, so he’d better hop to it,” Axilus promptly replied, now quietly fighting with his brother to remove Tollak’s feet from his lap.

Aephis made a vague sound of complaint, causing Sephira to reach up and smack him lightly. “Go call your doctor, Aephis. Anything else, boys?”

The brothers glanced at each other, then hopped to their feet and darted over to their mother in barely two steps. “This is from her,” Tollak announced, right before the two of them embraced their mother in a tight hug.

Sephira stiffened slightly, then relaxed and wriggled until she could wrap an arm around each of her sons, making an odd purring sound. “Thank you, boys, I’ll be sure to tell her I got it. Why don’t you go order takeout for dinner? I feel like _austurin_ tonight. Go on, and don’t fight over the terminal.” She nuzzled both of her sons in turn, then let go of them, allowing them to run off while she leaned forward to start cleaning up her drawings. “Aephis, get ahold of my parents and the other aliens, would you? Let them know we’re ordering out for dinner.”

Thie watched Aephis press a kiss to her head before lumbering off, then looked back to Sephira when she cleared her throat. She was watching him, expression apparently disinterested. “I’ll leave some paper and pencils within reach, if you still feel like drawing. I need to keep these idiots from beating each other into pulps, but you might as well just stay down so that leg can heal faster, and I know for a fact it’s damn boring on the couch. I’ll leave the remote within reach, too.” One mandible twitched. “I would say ‘have fun,’ but I know that’s unlikely.” Then she stood up, took three steps, and was gone.

Thie was quiet, listening to the apartment come back to life around him, then reached over, picked up a fresh piece of paper and a pencil, and started to draw.


	6. Noise, Crowds, and Math

Palavenian weekends lasted three long, twenty-eight-hour days, but you would never know it from how much needed to get done during those three days. Sephira, having been living with a mostly empty apartment for the past year and with a family for the past twenty-four, had each day separated neatly by what had to get done: Inidom, the first day, was for relaxing. Relitem, the second, was for anything that needed doing around the apartment. And Reliper, the third, was for any last-minute shopping that had to be done before work began again on Tartem, the next day.

Siri liked Reliper the least.

Reliper was when everyone gathered around the kitchen table and sorted out who had to do what that day. The krogan would get their own levo supplies, Kel would stay behind to keep Thie company, Sephira’s parents would take the Madelivio brothers and get groceries, and Aephis, Sephira, and Siri would go around collecting whatever other odds and ends they needed. But before she could say anything about it, lists were drawn up, directions were given, and everyone was heading out to do their part. So she took Sephira’s hand and obediently followed her and Aephis down the many, many stairs to the streets filled with many, many people.

Turians liked to move, Siri had learned quickly after crash-landing on Palaven. They liked to walk, they liked to climb, and they could parkour like nobody’s business. Their cities were designed around this, with skinny roads, wide sidewalks, and jutting architecture just right for a grasping claw to grip and let go of as its owner soared along their way. There was a lot of space between roads, so it felt like a much longer trip to the shopping center than it actually was.

The problem was that Siri was not a turian, and by the time they got to the sprawling shopping center, Siri was getting a ride from Aephis, clinging to his cowl with her legs propped up on his arms and hoping beyond hope he didn’t forget she was there and send her tumbling to the ground that was a lot farther away than she would have liked.

Sephira hummed to herself, pulling up her omni-tool to consult the list she had stored there. “Let me see… We should get some more antibiotics and painkillers for the quarians, I don’t know how long it takes them to run out and I’d rather not find out the hard way. Jaera’s getting some holes in her, so I’ll need some fabric to patch her up. Damn, we should have brought Ax along, he could use some winter-winter gear, not Palaven-winter gear, his last set of heavy-duty stuff is from when he was three and I had that three-month stint on Altakiril. Solas.” She tapped a button on her omni-tool, and her drone flickered into existence. “Send Axilus a message asking him for his measurements and what color winter gear he wants for me.”

The drone chirped an affirmative, then Sephira glanced up at Siri, peering over Aephis’ shoulder at her. “Think you can manage walking now?”

She nodded shyly and fidgeted, prompting Aephis to let go and allow her to slide ungracefully to the ground. She looked around, then inched a little closer to standing just behind the wall of a turian that was Major Aephis Madelivio.

Sephira watched, mandibles flickering with some unknowable emotion, then shrugged and moved to Aephis’ side, twining her hand with his. “Stay close, Siri,” she instructed. “It’s easy to get lost here.”

She didn’t have to tell Siri twice. Just glancing around the immediate area was worrisome- the whole place was littered with turians, with just a small handful of aliens scattered amongst them. She reached out quickly and grabbed the back of Sephira’s shirt before they could get too far away.

Sephira spared her a glance over her shoulder, but it only lasted a second before she was back to patiently listening to Aephis complain about his next deployment in a couple months being for Council guard duty and not wanting to be in close proximity to someone named “Ierian” for weeks on end. Siri didn’t mind, a little more preoccupied with not getting left behind by a couple of aliens with much longer legs than hers.

There was a lot of people. So many people. And a lot of people made a lot of noise. She turned off audio input, but it didn’t help very much. She’d been on Palaven for over a month, and it still surprised her just how much noise turians could make. She was surrounded on all sides by shrieking, cawing, bellowing, croaking, chattering, roaring, caterwauling turians, and every ringing yowl was one more person in the crowd, its eyes on her, waiting for her to let go of Sephira’s shirt and fall behind so it could swallow her up and pull her away and make her irreparably lost.

A wave of relief crashed over her as Sephira and Aephis headed into a quiet little store with half its overhead lights off to allow for natural lighting.

Even though the store was much more peaceful than the crowd outside, Siri tightened her grip on Sephira’s shirt, even more determined not to get lost, because that would mean someone might think she was there on her _own_ , and that might look _suspicious_ , and she might be _confronted_ by someone who thought she was there to _steal_ -

She jumped and squeaked when Sephira reached back and pried her off suddenly.

She suddenly noticed that Aephis had vanished, and they were alone in the aisle, Sephira crouching in front of her. “Hey,” Sephira said softly, eyes full of concern. “It’s alright. Nobody’s going to hurt you in here, yeah? It’s okay.”

Siri blinked, then whimpered. “Where’d Aephis go?”

“We split up. He had to grab something for Ax’s birthday next week. Don’t tell.” Sephira gave her a conspiratorial little wink. “And I thought you might need a little help calming down.”

Siri swallowed, then nodded a little, and Sephira gave her what to turians was probably a reassuring smile but to Siri was a reminder of how many teeth turians had in their heads. “Okay, then come on.”

She squeezed her hand gently and slowly led her towards the back of the store, then coaxed her into sitting against the wall. She sat down next to her after a moment, letting out a quiet little grunt as she slid down with her back to the wall. “Spirits, I need to stretch more often,” she grumbled. “My job’s not the greatest for my legs.”

“Are you okay?” Siri managed to ask, a little bit pleased her voice still worked.

Sephira waved a hand dismissively. “I’m only fifty-six. I’ll be fine. I’m more concerned about you. What’s wrong?”

Siri had to work to swallow the knot that her throat had suddenly tied itself into. “I… I… It’s _loud_ ,” she managed to get out. “It’s really loud and there’s so many people and I just can’t-!” She broke off and clutched her knees to her chest, doing her best to hide her face in them in spite of the mask preventing her from doing just that.

Beside her, Sephira sighed softly and draped an arm gently around her shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay,” she murmured. “I understand.”

Siri shook her head slightly. “No, you don’t.”

Sephira snorted. “You’d be surprised.” Her voice softened again. “Remember all that stuff I said, about how tough it is to be an albino in turian society?”

Siri thought for a moment. “Yeah, I guess…”

Sephira sighed quietly. “When I first started school, a boy in my class said I was an ‘asari that came out wrong.’ It sounds stupid now, but when you’re a little kid, it hurts like Nanus decided to start dancing on your heart. I got sent to the headmaster’s office for beating the shit out of him.” She snorted. “You know, a lot of other species are quick to say ‘violence isn’t the answer.’ Maybe not, but it sure made me feel better. By the time I went to basic, my file was divided up by _month_.”

Siri suddenly got the distinct impression this was not a woman whose arm she wanted around her shoulders. She squirmed a bit, and Sephira withdrew her arm. “I’m sorry, but why are you telling me this?”

Sephira was quiet for a moment, then heaved a sigh. “Because no matter how often I beat people to a pulp, I couldn’t change the fact that I was born a monster. They did some testing, you know- I should have been bronze, like my _marmat,_ and like Tollak. But I got the nastiest, least-lucky draw of them all, and I came out like this.” She held up an arm, turning it slightly in the light. “A pigmentless freak of nature, only good for the most objectifying of modeling and acting jobs. You can’t just erase that from your mind, a lesson I learned the hard way when I went to basic.” She shook her head slightly. “I was an exotic treasure the likes of which they’d only seen on seedy extranet sites riddled with shady ads and software. You spend a couple months as the object of every guy in your squad’s sexual fantasies, you learn to protect yourself damn fast. Sadly, you get paranoid even faster. Every set of eyes in public was another set of eyes on me, waiting for me to drop the tough-girl act and hop in bed with them.” She flicked a mandible. “Trust me, I know _exactly_ what you mean.”

Siri fidgeted. “I’m sorry…”

Sephira shrugged. “Eh. I have a loving husband, a handful of good friends I can trust not to pull that kind of shit on me, and a couple kids who think I’m beautiful because I’m their mom and they love me, not because of a skin condition.” She smiled a little. “That sort of stuff goes a long way to pushing the fear away. The trick is to figure out what upsets you, so you can fight back.”

Siri was quiet for a bit, thinking about what Sephira said. Before she could say anything, though, Aephis reappeared, a bag of something hanging from one wrist, and held out a hand to help Sephira to her feet. She patted Siri on the arm, then accepted Aephis’ hand, greeting him with a kiss on the cheek once she was standing again. Siri watched, then hastily scrambled to her feet once she realized this meant they were leaving. Being left behind was absolutely _not_ on her list of things to do.

Just as they were about to leave the store, Siri suddenly tugged on the back of Sephira’s shirt. The older woman paused and turned around, lowering one mandible in an unspoken question. Siri motioned for her to lean down, and once she did, she whispered, “I don’t like crowds.”

Sephira seemed to consider this for a moment, then simply nodded and stood back up with a quiet, “Give me a moment.” Aephis slid an arm around her waist, she purred softly, and then they were walking back out into the crowd.

Siri didn’t get a chance to talk to Sephira again until after they’d dropped by two more stores. By then, Aephis was starting to slow down, so Sephira complained about being hungry, and it was impossible not to hear the relief in Aephis’ sigh as he sat down at a table in the food court to wait while Sephira trotted off to get food. She didn’t take long, to Siri’s relief- as nice as Aephis could be, he was still much more intimidating than his wife.

Granted, that was likely because while both turians were obscenely tall, Sephira was lean and willowy, whereas Aephis’ build brought a tank to mind, and while she’d only just recently met Aephis, she’d known Sephira almost from the moment she arrived at the TEC headquarters in Cipritine and had had time to learn that Sephira wasn’t half-bad, once you got past the prickly demeanor and tendency to beat up anyone who interrupted her work (it wasn’t so much ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ as it was ‘what doesn’t kill you comes very, very close to killing you’).

Turians tended to eat fast, but they stayed sitting for a while after they were all finished eating anyway, making small talk and discussing what else had to be done that day. Axilus and the others would be rejoining them after they dropped off the groceries at home so Axilus and Tollak could get winter gear, which Siri saw as a cause for concern. While she liked Sephira’s parents, and her sons were okay, turians were just so _big,_ and she was so… _not_. She didn’t want to get in anyone’s way.

They ended up sitting and talking until the others arrived, with Axilus and Tollak sliding in to sit next to their parents, wearing expressions that even to Siri looked like they were hoping to be praised for their quick arrival. Trierceo and Orian weren’t nearly so quick on their feet, almost lazily drifting in to stand nearby. After a brief set of questions to make sure all the groceries had been put away, Sephira gave a nod of approval, and the four left again, this time with Aephis in tow. Siri made to follow, but Sephira placed a hand on her arm and shook her head at her.

Siri watched them go, then blinked up at Sephira. “Um, aren’t we going with them?”

Sephira flicked a mandible. “No. I’ve got something else in mind.”

“What’s that?”

Sephira hummed to herself, then sighed. “I know this is going to be uncomfortable for you, but I thought it might be useful for you to learn a few things to help you manage your anxiety. It won’t be pleasant, but trust me, it’ll be useful in the long run.”

Siri swallowed. _Oh, no_.

* * *

Sephira sat primly on the edge of the fountain that dominated the central plaza of the shopping center, back straight, legs folded, hands in her lap, and eyes serenely closed. She didn’t know if Siri would get the hang of meditation, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.

Siri was fidgeting beside her. “Um, excuse me, but why are you..?”

Sephira flicked a mandible, not bothering to look at her. “Like I said, I know a thing or two about anxiety. My situation isn’t the same as yours, but I think I can help at least a little bit.”

Siri quieted, and Sephira slowly opened her eyes, glancing about. As expected, there was a little more than a handful of people staring at them. A tiny quarian girl and an albino turian woman made a rather strange pair anywhere, but especially so in the heart of Cipritine. “Siri, I want you to listen to me. Can you do that?”

Siri nodded slightly, and Sephira continued, “Look around and tell me what you see. Not the background, just what you first notice.”

Siri made a sound Sephira couldn’t identify, then stammered out, “There’s a lot of people, and it’s noisy, and people are looking at us, and-“

“That’s fine, Siri, thank you,” Sephira said, wanting to cut her off before she got too upset. “I want you to take a seat and close your eyes.”

Siri fidgeted, then did as she was told, squirming slightly. Sephira hummed encouragingly, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. “Take deep breaths. Focus on the air in your lungs. Shut out everything but your own body, and listen to it. Just breathe, Siri.”

She watched for a few minutes as Siri very slowly brought her breathing and fidgeting under control, then murmured, “Good. You’re doing very well, Siri. Now, it usually helps if you have something to focus on inside your own head, something you can do without sitting down and meditating. I prefer computational astrodynamics, but you should probably stick to basic mathematics for now.” Her mandibles fluttered slightly in amusement. “Think you can do that?”

Siri was quiet, then nodded a bit. “What kind of math?”

“Let’s start with the basics, then work our way up. How’s that sound?”

“Um… I think I can do that.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Sephira smiled encouragingly. “Something simple to start with, then. Let me think… Okay, Siri, what’s x if three-x-cubed plus seventeen all divided by four equals five?”

They continued in that vein for a while, Sephira coming up with new equations for Siri to solve and Siri thinking for a moment before telling her the (almost always correct) answer, each problem more complicated than the last. By the time the rest of the family reappeared, Sephira was rattling off optimization problems and just hoping the numbers worked out.

Siri seemed startled when Aephis plopped down on Sephira’s other side, threw an arm around her shoulders, and rubbed his cheek against hers. Maybe she should have told him to warn them when they were coming. Oh, well.

She took a moment for her to make sure they’d gotten everything. Getting all the way home only to realize they’d forgotten something tended to annoy everyone. But before she stood to leave, she turned back to Siri, mandibles fluttering slowly. “How are you feeling?”

Siri squirmed slightly. “A little better, I guess…”

“Better than worse. Think all that stuff I told you might help with your anxiety?”

“Um…” Siri was quiet a little, then shrugged. “Maybe.”

Sephira smiled. “Maybe is better than no. Come on, let’s get out of here.”


	7. What Happens When You Kill a Twin

Axilus had been deep in a discussion with Kel about the pros and cons of different species in the Spectres when a knock sounded at the door and his mother yelled for him to answer. He jumped up pretty much before “Axilus, get the door!” was done forming, and he ran to the door, just barely not crashing because he’d misjudged when to start sliding. He keyed in the pass code and stepped back, hands behind his back and head respectfully lowered, like he’d been taught.

Then he jumped to a more relaxed position when he saw the steely gray turian woman on the other side of the door. “Lady Domitiana!”

Freiya’s mother smiled warmly. “Axilus! Your mother said you’d come home early. May I come in?”

He bobbed his head and stepped aside, calling, “Mom, Freiya’s mom is here!”

“Just a minute!” his mother yelled from her room.

Kel looked up from where he’d been sitting on the couch. “Um, hi?”

Freiya’s mother stepped inside and looked at Kel. “You one of the quarians Ax brought home with him?”

Kel flinched a bit. “Uh, yes?”

She considered, then moved so she could stick out her hand for him to shake. “Nelis Domitiana. I’m Ax’s friend Freiya’s mother.”

Kel perked up considerably once he realized she wasn’t going to eat him and shook her hand enthusiastically. “Kel’Raanis nar Anaid. I think I met your daughter.”

“Trust me, if you did, you’d remember.” Nelis smiled. “My baby girl’s got a _killer_ right hook.”

“Which _I_ taught her, thank you very much,” Sephira said, breezing into the room. “Good to see you, Nelis. How’s work?”

Nelis chuckled. “Eventful as usual. Yesterday we got called in to unstick some poor son of a bitch from his bathroom. No idea how he did it, but somehow he managed to get one foot stuck in the pipes under the sink while his hand was through the fucking wall. Bet his landlord was real happy about that.”

Kel blinked, eyes wider than was probably healthy. “What?”

Sephira chuckled. “Nelis is an EMT. Tell him about Tirnnonis.”

“Oh, shit, yeah. Fuck, he got in trouble again just last week. Okay, so there’s this doctor who used to work at Central, right. Few years back, he left and started his own clinic on the Citadel. Pretty decent guy. His _kid_ , though. His fucking kid, man. His _fucking_ kid, this fucking _loser_ called Tiberio Macririan, this fucking kid keeps doing the weirdest fucking things and we keep having to pull his ass out of the fire. Like, this one time, he was, shit, I don’t fucking know _what_ he was doing, but _somehow_ he got his dick stuck in the mechanism for the sliding doors. Doors wouldn’t open _or_ close, and he was just kinda standing there like a lost _lanadenbul_. We literally had to get out the Jaws of Life, and man, that is the day every EMT dreams of and prays for, that we get to use the Jaws of fucking Life. You could hear the excitement in our supervisor’s voice when he yelled for someone to go grab the Jaws from the truck. So we get this kid unstuck, we make sure he’s okay, we tell his mom, and then- fuck, _then_ we got to call his _dad_. And like, this kid is _always_ doing something stupid, so we get to call Tirnnonis at _least_ once a month, and we actually _fight_ over who gets to tell him what happened. So we call him, and we’re all like, ‘Hey, Gahlan, guess what!’ and this dude doesn’t even looked surprised, all he says is, ‘Oh, no,’ and let me tell you, you _know_ a conversation’s gonna be good when that’s how it starts. Spirits, I love that stupid kid, half my best stories are from him.”

Kel looked vaguely horrified as Nelis turned back to Sephira, one hand on her hip, and said, “Anyway, Seph, I got a message that Freiya’s squad is coming back for a couple weeks of leave before they get their official stations. I know Ax is already back, but I figured you should come along, anyway. You know, since it’s his friends and all.” She lowered her voice and added, “Besides, truth be told, I’m a little worried about Atis. She hasn’t left her apartment in ages, and for a while, I heard some bad noises from her place. I’m worried that… you know.” Her mandibles flickered meaningfully. “And after Dexeras…”

Sephira thought for a moment, then nodded quickly. “I see what you mean. Did you get the time they’ll be arriving? I’ll come with you and Atis. Axilus, do you want to go meet your friends at the spaceport?”

Axilus perked up and nodded enthusiastically, and Nelis smiled. “It’s settled, then. I’ll forward you the message with all the details. Aelim and Galaxos are home for now, so they’ll be joining us. I should get back to work, I’m on lunch break and thought it would be easier to talk to you in person.”

Sephira nodded. “I won’t keep you, then. Thank you for the information, Nelis. See you later.”

Not even two minutes after Nelis left, Axilus coughed into his fist and asked, “So, uh, Mom, can I go say hi to, uh, Freiya’s dad? And, uh, let him know I didn’t get his daughter killed?”

Sephira rolled her eyes. “Oh, go say hi to Freiya’s hot older sister, I know that’s what you’re thinking.”

\--

Thie looked up from the news as the apartment door opened and Sephira and Axilus walked in. He was about to say hello when he realized that they were followed by even more turians, including two familiar faces and a couple unfamiliar ones- and all of them were cloaked in a very somber air that flooded into the room and took up residence throughout the apartment.

Sephira and a coppery male turian he didn’t recognize carefully led a dark gray female to a seat on the couch, with two more females pacing slowly after. Axilus and two other turians he vaguely recognized from the _Anchrivos_ hovered around the entryway, looking lost.

Once Sephira had the other woman settled, she glanced up and flicked a mandible. “Axilus, you and the others go somewhere else. Take Thie with you.”

“But-“

“Axilus, please.”

Axilus was quiet, then moved to grab Thie’s crutches. “Freiya, Demienn, you guys go to my room, I’ll be along in a minute.”

The other two nodded and vanished, and Axilus sighed, then scooped up Thie in his arms and trotted after them down the hall. Thie considered fighting, but both the heavy cast on his leg and the look on Axilus’ face strongly recommended he not, so he stayed still.

In Axilus’ room, he was gently placed on the bed, then Axilus took a seat on the floor. The other two turians, a bronze female and a steel-gray male, arranged themselves in a little triangle with him, staring at the floor. After a moment’s thought, Axilus turned and grabbed a vaguely asari-shaped doll with more patches and stitched-up tears than Thie had fingers and toes combined off the bed, pulling it into his lap and loosely folding his arms around it.

The three turians plus Thie sat in silence for a moment, then the female cleared her throat and looked up at Thie. “So you’re Thie’Haasn, right? The quarian kid.”

Thie nodded, noting she’d chosen to start talking barely seconds after choked sobbing had started filtering in through the crack under the door. “Thie’Haasn nar Olyna.”

She nodded. “Freiya Domitiana. Nice to finally meet you. Wish it were under better circumstances. So what do you think of Palaven?”

They made small talk for a couple more hours, until the sobbing from the main room finally died down and Sephira came in to quietly tell Axilus to get the guest room ready for Mistress Vyrilian while she set things up for Demienn in the other room, and Freiya could stay over too, if she wanted.

As the turians slowly got to their feet, Thie looked across the room, staring blankly at the rows of books arranged neatly on the shelf facing him. It wasn’t until after the door had slid shut again that he remembered he had yet to update his family on his status.


	8. Moms and Comms

It took Thie three days to work up the courage to ask Sephira if he could borrow her terminal.

She looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head, mandibles fluttering in some unknowable expression as she asked, “What in Trebia's name for?”

His voice decided right then would be a perfect time to desert him, and he stammered and stuttered for a few minutes while she looked on in mild confusion until he finally managed to string together a coherent sentence. “I need to call my brother.”

Her brow plates shot skywards. “Your brother?”

“Yes, my brother,” he hurriedly replied before she could say anything else. “I know it's not common for quarians to have siblings, believe me, but I'd rather talk to him than my-”

And he froze.

She waited for a minute. Then she sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Breathe, kid.” Once he did so, taking in one shaky, shallow breath, she removed her hand, though she still looked mildly concerned about him. Thie was reminded of how she looked at Siri whenever the poor girl had one of her anxiety attacks. “Don't worry, I understand. You can use my terminal whenever you need to. Just don't touch anything but the vid-comm or I'll shove that cast of yours down your throat. Got it?”

Thie swallowed hard and took a few deep, slow breaths, then nodded. “I won't touch anything, I promise. Thank you, Mistress.”

Sephira cocked out a mandible in what Thie supposed might be a smile, then stood from where she'd been sitting on the couch, beckoning him over to the terminal. Thankfully, she allowed him a minute or two to hobble on over, wincing in sympathy when he carefully balanced his weight on his good leg to take the pressure from the crutches off of his armpits. Good to know he wasn't the only one that hated the damn things. “I'll show you how to get to the vid-comm, but the rest is up to you. I assume you know how to work it?”

“Um, yes.”

“Good, 'cause I'm not explaining it, that's just insulting to both my and your intelligence. Here, look.” She gave him a quick tutorial on how to log in and navigate the menus, warning him repeatedly to avoid anything that didn't look like the vid-comm upon threat of execution, then, once he'd figured it out, stepped back. “Want to do it now?”

Thie gave a start. “Uh, now?”

She nodded. “No better time than the present, especially when it comes to letting your folks know you're alive.” One mandible dropped slightly and she amended, “Well, your brother, at least.”

“And step-mother.”

“You have a step-mother?”

Thie nodded slowly, fidgeting with one crutch. “She and Del are the only ones I really have left. Name's Cila. I guess she's kind of like Desolas was to Ax, before, well...”

She was quiet for a moment, then patted his head like she'd done to her sons before. “She sounds lovely. Though, hopefully she's less racist.”

He gave a short laugh and shook his head. “She's not racist at all. Keelah, she was the one who talked my brother into going on Pilgrimage to Thessia so he'd have a little more experience with the other species than most pilgrims got. He said it was the best idea she'd ever had.” He paused, then added, “She's kind of like you, I guess. She's a marine. Doesn't take shit from anyone. But she's the best person I've ever met.”

Sephira spread her mandibles in a smile. “You know, kid, anyone who says flattery will get you nowhere needs to be punted into Trebia's orbit.” Then she patted his head again. “Go on, talk to your mom and your brother. Let them know you're okay. I have to go check on my idiot son.”

Thie nodded slowly and watched her saunter from the room, then took another deep breath and turned back to the glowing terminal before him, slowly typing in his step-mother's information. Hopefully she wasn't busy.

Luckily, she wasn't, and she answered on the third ring. Though he couldn't see her face, he knew from her posture that she was grinning. “Thie! Oh, it's good to see you. You had me so worried!”

He lowered his head apologetically. “Sorry, _maur'ta_. I meant to call sooner, but I was...” He hesitated, then shrugged. “Busy, I guess.”

“Busy with what? Not another slaver ship, I hope.”

He flinched. Right, he'd forgotten he'd told her all about that mess. “No, it was...” His hand drifted up to rub at the mostly-healed incision site at the base of his skull, and Cila crossed her arms.

“ _Mudai'de_ ,” she warned in a tone that made a chill run down Thie's spine, “don't lie to me. Tell me what happened.”

Great. As if it wasn't bad enough being yelled at by just one mother for making an admittedly-terrible decision, now he was going to be yelled at by another. And, worse, this mother was actually his own. Heaving a deep, heavy sigh, he launched into an explanation of the past few weeks, carefully observing Cila's body language for any indication of her mood. Unfortunately for him, she was rather fantastic at keeping any mood shifts out of her body language, and by the time he finished, he'd begun to panic. This was bad. “... and, uh, that's why, um, I forgot to call, and, yeah...” He trailed off, then ducked his head. “Please don't kill me.”

For a long, tense couple of minutes, everything was silent. Then Cila sighed and shook her head. “Why didn't you tell me you needed an implant? I could have found a decent one for you and you'd never have had to have gone through that in the first place.”

“I- I didn't think-”

“I noticed.” She unfolded and re-crossed her arms. “Stay away from the black market, _ruaha la'i_. Next time, you may not be so lucky.”

Thie lowered his head. “Sorry, _ch_ _ō_ _ma_. I won't do it again. _L_ _aiha pal'thaje._ ”

“It's all right, just, seriously. Don't touch the black market again or I'm sending your brother after you to beat you over the head with your own crutch.”

“Thanks, Mom.” He paused for a moment, then asked, “Speaking of Del, where is he? I thought he'd be with you.”

She brightened right back up, so quickly that it threw Thie for a loop for just a moment before she happily chirped, “I finally convinced him to do something useful with himself!”

“Uh, what?”

Now that Thie thought about it, he and Del had been quite possibly the biggest failures to the Haasn name. His clan was known for engineering prowess, something which had apparently gotten lost on the both of them and skipped a few ships to land on Siri'Yanna. They both tried their best to help, of course, but more often than not, they managed to fuck up something or another and ended up sitting dejectedly in their cubicles, trying not to get in the way. Of course, it was worse for Thie, what with his biotic discharges knocking the drive cores he tried to help work on out of whack, but Del hardly had it better. The poor guy had no idea how to work with a wrench, let alone perform aeroelasticity computations on command.

Maybe there was still some hope for him yet, Thie sarcastically told himself as he asked, “What did you get him to do?”

The sheer amount of pride in Cila's voice would have been more fitting for a turian more than twice her size. “He joined the Migrant Fleet Marines last week. Set off on his first rotation yesterday.” She sniffled dramatically. “I'm so proud of him.”

Thie blinked slowly. “You convinced Del to join the Marines.”

“Yep!” His step-mother beamed.

“... Del. Del'Haasn vas Sani?”

“Believe it or not! He was excited about it, too.” She paused. “Or, well, I think he was. You know how your brother is. About as expressive as a burnt-out power coupling. Maybe some time in the Marines will fix that.”

“Or kill him!”

Cila waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, don't worry so much. He was cleared for combat, he'll be fine!”

Thie made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, clinging to his crutches so his one good leg didn't give out and send him to the floor. “Mom, you _mu'rakh_ , Del hadn't even had military training yet!”

“Neither did I, and I'm still alive.”

“You're lucky!”

“Don't worry, the Marines don't get in that much trouble! He won't see combat until he's trained, trust me. If I have to, I'll pull some strings, get him assigned to the back ranks until he gets enough experience to hold his own.” He could hear the smile in her voice as she said, “Don't worry, _kitho_ _'_ _ra_ , I'll make sure he's all right, just like I have your father.”

He paused for a long, painful moment. “... speaking of Father,” he began, voice so quiet as to be nearly inaudible, and trailed off.

She waited for him to continue. When he didn't, she sighed softly and shook her head. “He's doing... better.” Somewhere in the back of Thie's mind, a niggling little voice questioned whether that was actually a good thing. “He's actually working with the nurses now, instead of fighting them every step of the way. I'm proud of him. The hardest part of getting better is admitting you need to.”

“Do you think it'll work?”

“You mean, do I think it'll make him forgive you for what happened to Atris?” Thie flinched. Cila just sighed and shrugged. “I don't know. I can't predict the future, Thie. But I'll work on him with it.”

When he didn't immediately respond, she continued. “Don't blame yourself, Thie. There was nothing you could have done, anyway, you were just a baby.”

“I could have just not been born. Maybe Father would be happier if I just didn't exist.” He knew he sounded bitter and cold, but he didn't care enough to try to hide it.

Cila frowned. “Don't say that. He loves you, I know he does. It's less that he blames you and more that he blames himself. I mean, who was the one who got her pregnant, again? And who let her keep going to work while she was pregnant? Who didn't notice that one of her hoses was leaking? Not you, that's for damn sure.” She crossed her arms in front of her again. “Even if you hadn't been born, she would have gotten sick anyway. That's fact.”

“Yeah, but she might not have died giving birth to a biotic freak of nature.”

“Is that what this is about? Your biotics?”

Thie scowled. “Well, it sure isn't about my lack of social skills.”

“You couldn't have helped that, either, Thie. And you know that.” For the first time, Thie was glad he wasn't face-to-face with his step-mother, because he was pretty sure she'd either be slapping him upside the head for thinking that way or marching him off into a corner to have another unwanted heart-to-heart.

He huffed and glanced away from the screen. “That doesn't mean I don't feel like ass for killing my own mother.”

“You didn't kill her, the stress did. Now stop that.” Cila huffed, then shook her head once more and unfolded her arms. “Listen, Thie. Take some time to cool off, then I want you to go talk to someone about this. It's not healthy to be thinking that way about yourself. Okay? I mean it, I want you to talk to someone, I don't care who, so long as you're talking. Then call me back.”

He was quiet for a minute. Then he sighed and nodded slowly. “All right. I will. And... sorry.”

“Don't be. _Din'ala tumis, ruaha la'i_. _Keelah se'lai_.”

“ _Hami'ila tuha, maur'ta_. _Keelah se'lai_ ”

As the terminal went dark and he turned around to limp his way back to the couch, Thie couldn't help but wonder if every mom just had a universal talent for making people feel better only using words, and pitied every poor soul who pissed them off.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we may end up having to post a glossary full of all the phrases we're using for the alien closed dialects, because there's just too many to put in footnotes. And I apologize for that.


	9. Trierceo Really, Really Hates Nutrient Paste

Thie was woken by a hand on his shoulder, shaking insistently.

“Get up!” Sephira hissed, eyes narrowed and mandibles set in what he’d come to recognize as her “argue and I’ll make tea from your blood” expression. “I don’t have a lot of time, so you’ll have to get up fast. The other quarians are already here. Hobble in to the kitchen once you can.”

And then she was gone again. Thie wanted to assume it was just some weird dream, but the sounds and smells emanating from the kitchen strongly suggested otherwise, so he grabbed his crutches with a sigh and did as he was bid.

Just as Sephira had said, Kel and Siri were already in the kitchen, along with the rest of the family of turians, minus Axilus. Tollak had his eyes shut like he was sleeping, the only indication that he wasn’t being the fact that he was slowly gnawing away at some sort of pastry. Aephis was staring into a cup of tea like it might tell him the secret of why he listened to Sephira and got up earlier than planned. Orian had apparently given up on wakefulness entirely, with her head down on the table and shoulders rising and falling slowly as she breathed. Even Sephira looked a little tired, pacing near the window with her arms folded and eyes half-lidded. Trierceo looked to be the only one who was actually awake, calmly making what Thie supposed would be breakfast. The two quarians, meanwhile, were slumped against each other, Kel waving a little to Thie when he noticed him.

Sephira glanced at him, then sighed. “Good, we’re all here.”

“What about the krogan?” Kel asked, sitting up a little.

Sephira placed her hands over where Thie supposed Tollak’s ears were. “Not in front of the baby.”

Tollak whined softly and shook his head. “Mom, please…”

“Come on, Tol, it was a joke. Finish your _pompan_.” She leaned down and pressed a little kiss to his crest, then straightened up and started pacing again. “The krogan are getting food for themselves. They’ve already been briefed.”

“Briefed?”

Sephira sighed and ran a talon along her fringe. “Today’s Axilus’ birthday. He’s seventeen. We’re going to have a party for him, but he can’t know about it until we’re ready. Suffice to say, there’s a lot to do. I’ve got a list of errands for him to run, but he can’t go do them alone or he’ll be suspicious. We’ve already decided who’s doing what-“

“We have?” Aephis slurred, looking up from his tea with droopy mandibles.

“Okay, _I_ have,” she corrected. “The krogan and the non-injured quarians will run errands with Ax. Aephis, Tol, Mom, and I will get everything set up. And Cripple, you’re on food duty with him.” She jerked her head in Trierceo’s direction, who merely flicked a mandible in acknowledgement and moved to the fridge to retrieve… something. Thie couldn’t exactly tell.

Thie blinked, processing this. “Wait, what?”

Sephira pulled out a chair and sat down, pulling the box of pastries towards her to grab one. “You’re on crutches. Not exactly useful in setting up a party. So you’ll be helping my dad cook.”

Trierceo made a detour on his way back to the stove to lightly cuff Sephira around the head. “That’s your fourth _cruavan_ this morning. Those are a supplement, not a meal. Put it back.”

Sephira huffed. “Dad, is this really the time?”

“We’ve had this discussion before, young lady.”

Orian sighed and lifted her head. “Sephira, listen to your father. It’s not worth fighting him over.”

Sephira grumbled but put the _cruavan_ back, muttering a petulant, “ _Fine_ ,” before sitting back in her chair and folding her arms, making what Thie had learned was a rather vulgar gesture at Trierceo’s retreating back. Then she scowled when her mother scolded her for the gesture, and scowled even deeper when her father heard and came back to cuff her around the head considerably less gently. “Dad!”

“Behave yourself, Sephira,” he scolded. “It’s your son’s birthday. Do you really want me in a bad mood?”

Sephira glowered up at him, then slowly looked back down at her hands and grumbled, “No, sir.”

“Didn’t think so. What do you say?”

“Sorry, sir.”

“Good. You can do the dishes after breakfast to make up for your insolence. Understood?”

Sephira growled, then huffed. “Yes, sir.”

Thie glanced between the two turians, glad that for once nobody was gesturing towards him during an argument. He was just starting to wonder if he could escape before anyone noticed when Trierceo, apparently satisfied with Sephira’s penitence, walked around the table and grabbed him by the back of the neck, picking him up with one hand while the other took hold of his crutches. He yelped and struggled for the briefest of moments before tactile receptors reminded him of the talons that could very well pierce his suit without thinking about it, and went limp as Trierceo carried him into the kitchen proper. “Do I at least get to eat first?”

“Hell, no,” Trierceo grumbled. “That paste gunk isn’t food, it’s torture in nutritious glue form. Nobody’s going to eat that while I’m in the area. You can wait to eat actual breakfast like everyone else in this apartment. Including Axilus, if he ever gets his lazy ass out of bed.”

“Dad, he’s an insomniac, it’s a miracle he’s asleep at all!” Sephira called.

“Doesn’t mean he’s not lazy! He can sleep until breakfast is ready, then he has to get up!” Trierceo snorted and set Thie down near a counter for him to lean against. “Stay,” he ordered, then strode off to dig around in the fridge and drawers for a few moments. He came back with a huge knife and a slab of some sort of acid-green meat on a piece of plastic. He set it down on the counter next to Thie, then handed him the knife and simply said, “Cut this.”

Thie stared at the giant knife that was now in his uninjured hand. His voice came out as more of a squeak than he would have liked when he asked, “Wait, what?”

Trierceo rolled his eyes and moved back to the oven to stir whatever it was that was in the pan. “That’s _lanadenbul_ meat. Cut it into cubes about this big.” He held up a hand, thumb and one finger maybe an inch apart. “You cut cubes of that, put it in a sauce made from the guts of a _telal_ bird, spread it on some bread, and you’ve got breakfast.”

Thie blinked slowly, then started doing as told, asking, “Um… Is that supposed to sound good?”

Trierceo rolled his eyes again. “To a turian, yes. One of the first dishes we feed them once they’re old enough to start eating on their own. It’s soft enough that it’s not a choking hazard, and easy enough to make that it’s a common breakfast food. I’m not about to make _tencarcul_ when the only one helping me thinks military ration bars are an incredible discovery.”

“What’s _tencarcul_?”

“Shut up and dice the damn meat.”

Thie thought he heard quiet snickering from the table, but decidedly ignored it, instead focusing on getting the meat to cut. It was harder than expected- not only did he only have the one good arm, but the meat had apparently been marinating in its own blood and was rather difficult to get a decent hold on. Not to mention that whatever a _telal_ bird was, the gut-sauce smelled incredible, literal innards or no. He had to turn off his olfactory sensors just to concentrate.

He was maybe halfway through the slab of _lanadenbul_ meat when Trierceo tapped his shoulder. “Kid.”

“Thie,” he corrected. “My name is Thie.”

“Do I really strike you as the guy who cares about that? I’ve been working at my current position for almost thirty years now, and I _still_ don’t know all my coworkers’ names.” He snorted and shook his head. “Here. Smell this.”

Thie had barely enough time to turn his olfactory sensors back on before Trierceo was dragging him over to the pan. The smell hit him like a pack of varren that just heard their handler yell “dinner,” almost shorting out his brain with the mix of spices and cooking meat and what was unmistakably blood, things that probably shouldn’t have gone together nearly as well as they did. Thie had to wonder if turians dedicated as much time to experimenting with their food as they did with warfare, because that was _not_ the smell of a happy accident.

Trierceo made a distinctly proud noise. “That’s how you know you made _telal_ sauce right. It smells like _that_. It’s strong, but that’s what the _lanadenbul_ meat is for. Balances everything out. And, if I’m right…”

He glanced towards the living room just as clicking toe-claws announced Axilus’ arrival moments before the turian himself appeared, nasal plates twitching as he sniffed the air. “Axilus! Just in time,” Trierceo said, mandibles fluttering in amusement. He went around Thie to collect what meat he’d managed to chop up, deposited it in the pan, and took the rest of the meat back to the fridge. “Kid, stir the sauce. The _lanadenbul_ needs to be fully coated in the sauce to taste right. Sephira, where do you keep the bread?”

“Cupboard over the fridge, Dad.”

“Thank you. Make sure your sons are awake enough not to faceplant into their food, would you? It’s hot enough to hurt if they do that.”

Sephira grunted but shook Tollak’s shoulder gently. “Come on, Tol, time for breakfast. Wake up.”

“I _am_ up.”

“I mean up as in not curled in a ball at the table, sweetie.” She rolled her eyes but scratched behind his mandibles affectionately, then got up and headed over to where Axilus was still standing in the entryway, wrapping her arms around him in a gentle hug. “Morning, Ax,” she cooed, nuzzling him gently. “Sleep well?”

Axilus nodded, tucking his head against his mother’s neck. “Is breakfast ready?”

“Yes, sweetheart. Take a seat. Grandpa’s making it. _Lanadenbul_ in _telal_ sauce.”

“Oh, okay. Hi, Grandpa.” Axilus yawned, then allowed his mother to lead him to a seat. Then he blinked. “Wait, why are Grandma and Grandpa here so early?”

Without missing a beat, Trierceo said, in the flattest tone Thie had ever heard, “We were hiding thousands of confetti grenades all over the apartment.”

“Oh.” Axilus started to sit down, then jumped. “What?”

“So you _are_ awake. Good.” Trierceo’s mandibles fluttered slightly in amusement.

“Dad, it’s too early for your sense of humor,” Sephira groaned, taking her seat and putting her head down on the table.

Trierceo snorted, scooping the sauce into a bowl. “Nonsense. Sit up, Sephira, breakfast is ready.”

“Daaaaaad…”

Trierceo took the bowl over to the table, set it down, and scratched Sephira behind her mandibles. “Does someone need to go back to bed? I think someone needs to go back to bed.”

“Dad, leave me alone. Did you leave the quarian at the stove?”

“Hm. Suppose I did. Go to bed, Sephira.” Trierceo leaned down to press a light kiss to the top of his daughter’s head, then straightened up to collect Thie and carry him back to the table in spite of his protests that he could walk just fine, thank you.

Sephira ended up not going back to bed, instead waking up enough to eat, then steadily regaining her energy as she ate. By the time all the food was gone, the family of turians had become rather lively, amicably swapping stories across the table and arguing over whether or not any of it was actually true. Axilus staunchly insisted Tollak couldn’t possibly have shot two training dummies at once, whereas Tollak insisted he did, and their parents provided both the analytical, mathematical version and the practical version of how it could have happened. Then Sephira happened to glance at the clock over the stove, and jumped to her feet, putting an end to the conversation with a sharp, “Settle down!”

To say Axilus looked upset at the news he was going to spend the morning running errands would have been an understatement. “But _Mom!”_ he all but howled, “I don’t _want_ to! It’s-“

“-been over two weeks since you popped up unannounced, you’re exactly right, Ax.” Sephira glowered at him, clicking her mandibles in distaste.

“Are you _ever_ gonna let me forget that?”

“ _No.”_

Trierceo sighed, and a low, rumbling growl rolled out of him. “Axilus.”

The response was immediate. Axilus leaned back in his seat and whined softly, tilting his head so the portion of his neck not protected by his spinal plates was exposed. “Sorry, Mom. Sorry, _Marpat_. I’ll be good.”

Sephira snorted. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Any time, Sephi.”

Axilus kept his head in that uncomfortable-looking position for a moment longer, then snapped back to normal and fluttered his mandibles. “I don’t have to do it all by myself, do I?”

Sephira shook her head. “Siri and Kel will help you. So will the krogan, once they get back from having breakfast. Don’t think that means you can slack off and go do various stupid things around the city on my time, though. I need those things on the list for work.”

“Why don’t you requisition them from work, then? The TECh club won’t mind, I bet.”

Sephira quirked one mandible in amusement. “Because the less my bosses know about what I’m doing, the better. Ruins the surprise. I like seeing the looks on their faces when I show them what I’ve gotten done and they wonder how the fuck I did it.”

Axilus stared at her for a moment, then snorted. “You’re weird.”

“I’m also the one who gave birth to you, so what does that make you?” Sephira purred and went over to scratch below Axilus’ crest affectionately, drawing a low purr out of him. “Love you, Axi. Now go get dressed and get going. I’ll forward my list to your omni-tool.”

It took Axilus fifteen minutes to leave with Kel and Siri, and Thie had never seen anyone who had more thoroughly mastered the art of looking like you weren’t waiting for somebody to leave than the turians currently occupying the Madelivio-Actinus household. Aephis and Sephira squabbled over the remote until Trierceo casually reached over their heads to take it and hold it high above both of their heads. Later, Thie would picture his expression whenever he heard the phrase “grinning like an asshole.” Sephira retreated to do the dishes, Tollak enlisted his father’s help in taking apart his rifle to clean it properly, Orian started taking care of the plants in Sephira’s window boxes, and Trierceo settled down on the couch to watch a report on a terrorist attack on an Alliance cruiser. And Thie sat awkwardly at the table for a few minutes before struggling to his feet to hobble back to his couch. The news was more interesting than dishes or sniper rifle parts, at least.

Barely seconds after Axilus left, the turians quickly put away what they were doing and got to work. Thie, much to his chagrin, found himself getting picked up by the back of the neck again. “I can walk, you know.”

“Yes,” Trierceo said, “but not nearly fast enough.”

Trierceo dragged a chair from the table over to the counter and deposited Thie in it, then started bustling around the kitchen, digging in cupboards and pulling out ingredients as he went. Thie watched for a bit, then asked, “What are you doing?”

“Cooking.”

“I can see that.” Thie snorted. “What are you cooking?”

“Food.” One of Trierceo’s mandibles twitched as he returned to the counter where he’d been preparing food earlier. Thie got the distinct impression he was getting a kick out of this.

Fine. He could play that game. “What kind of food?”

“The edible kind.” He took out a pack of some pale blue meat from the pile of ingredients he’d accumulated, pulled it out of its packaging, and started kneading it, rhythmically folding it in on itself and pressing it out flat, then repeating.

“Edible for who?”

“Axilus.” He stopped kneading the meat, apparently satisfied, and went back to his pile of ingredients to rummage around.

“Axilus could eat rusty nails and be fine.”

“True enough. Alright, this is called _caroust._ Basically a meat pie. You can use any meat for it, but Axilus likes it best with _cornin_ belly, so that’s what I’m using. You mash it into a paste- or buy it already ground up, if you’re weak and will not survive the winter, knead it a bit to remove the air pockets, and add spice to taste. Then you make it into little patties and put it in the oven on warm until you want to eat them.” He rolled his eyes. “Axilus will try to convince you they’re best raw. Don’t listen to him. Heat brings out the flavor better.”

“Oh.” Thie was quiet for a bit, then asked, “Why are you telling me this? I can’t really help.”

Trierceo lowered his mandibles and emerged from the pile of ingredients holding a couple shakers presumably full of spices. “Because no living soul should have to survive on nutrient paste. Not only nutrient paste, anyway. Trust me, I’ve tried the stuff. There’s been a couple quarians who dropped by my workplace hoping to get some tips on agricultural engineering to improve the tech on the liveships. Like an idiot, I asked to try some of their paste. You know, for science.” He shuddered, then started adding the aforementioned spices. “Never again.”

Thie almost wondered what the Actinus family considered “science” before realizing he probably didn’t want to know. “So… you’re helping me.”

“Yes. You made the terrible mistake of crashing on my daughter’s couch while I was within a five-kilometer radius, so now I’m obligated to make sure you don’t live your entire life eating air in solid form. Now pay attention.”

Trierceo explained each spice and how much to add, then showed him how to shape them into small patties and arrange them on a pan so they wouldn’t make weird shapes as they cooked. While there wasn’t enough time to demonstrate everything, or so Trierceo said, there was enough time for Thie to learn the basics, which mostly boiled down to “don’t stray from the recipe until you’ve got it mastered,” “don’t listen to Axilus,” and “cooking while drunk off your ass is fun but should never, ever be attempted.”

Trierceo had finally deemed Thie suitably capable of cooking for himself and was cracking open his second bottle of something called horosk when the little drone came buzzing in and chirped that Axilus would be home shortly.


	10. A Guide to Successfully Navigating Your First Relationship, by Freiya Domitiana

Axilus made his way up to the apartment with drooping mandibles. He hadn’t gotten so much as a two-word message wishing him a happy birthday all morning. He would have been willing to accept that entering boot camp meant the end of such childish things as acknowledging your birthday- if his sixteenth birthday, a year after going to basic, hadn’t greeted him with a care package at dinner stuffed with treats, notes from his family wishing him a happy birthday, and a bank statement informing him a rather sizeable sum had been deposited into his account. No, his family took things like birthdays to be incredibly important, particularly as a method of informing someone who was away that they were remembered and loved.

So when he stepped into his parents’ apartment to find a party clearly already in full swing, he was more than a little surprised.

As he stood gaping in the entryway, his mother came sweeping over, throwing an arm across his shoulders and exclaiming, “Axi, sweetheart, where’ve you been? You’re late to your own party!”

He blinked, mandibles fluttering wildly. “Um- ah- what?”

His mother chuckled and rubbed her cheek ridges against his. “Well, we couldn’t set up while you were here. That would have been rude. So we had to get you out of the apartment. Stupid and cliché to get you to run errands, I know, but it was the option you’d be least likely to question. The quarians and the krogan totally knew, for the record. Don’t get mad, they were just doing what they were told. _Dapsiven diendan_ , Ax.”

Axilus stared around the room, trying to take it all in. His grandfather was lounging on the couch with one hand loosely curled around a bottle made of the distinctive frosted green glass that only ever held horosk. While Axilus knew his mother’s clan were renowned for their iron livers, he decided to keep his distance from Trierceo, just in case. He’d taken five shots in a row at his fifteenth birthday party and had to sit down before he got too woozy (and was then told by Trierceo, who was laughing uproariously, that most couldn’t even handle five shots before they went down for the count, so maybe his mother had at least passed along her alcohol tolerance, if nothing else). Trierceo caught his eye and lifted the bottle with a nod and a short bark of, “ _Dapsiven_!” then went back to watching whatever it was that was playing on-screen. Probably the news. _Again_.

His brother and grandmother had cleared a little room on the table amongst all the food (and, to his pleasant surprise, presents) piled on top and, judging by the little motions of their shoulders and arms, were playing some sort of game while his father looked on with mild interest. Thie looked vaguely anxious, sitting at the kitchen counter next to…

“ _Parmat!_ ” Axilus chirped, already darting over to give the steel-gray turian woman next to Thie her absolutely required greeting hug.

His grandmother looked up and smiled, moving one arm out to make room for him to sidle up next to her and hug her tight. “Hello, Axi, sweetie,” she purred, nuzzling him gently. “ _Dapsiven diendan_. I’ve been hearing some rather wild things from your father, and I know he likes to exaggerate, so why don’t you sit down and tell me just what’s been going on the past few weeks? You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. Go on, sit.”

Axilus pulled out a stool and fidgeted. “You’re sure?”

His _parmat_ shrugged. “I won’t push you if you don’t want to say something. If I’m _really_ worried…” She chuckled. “Well, I know your _parpat_ ’s access codes. Now start talking, Fledge, I think I’ve about exhausted the ‘are you taking care of yourself now that you’re out of the hospital’ line with your friend here.”

Axilus hesitated, then sighed and started at the end of the slaver ship. To her credit, his grandmother never interrupted, only nodding and making various little sounds to express her amusement or displeasure with a development in the story. Twice, he was interrupted by new arrivals- first Demienn and his mother, then Freiya and her family. Each new guest came bearing gifts, from delicately-wrapped boxes to unabashedly obvious cases of alcohol.

He tried to pretend he couldn’t see Grandma Corinn’s knowing smile when he noticed Freiya wasn’t carrying anything and he had to shift in his seat to try and make his plates stay closed.

He was just getting to the part about the trip to the combat sim when his father made a strangled sound, then bellowed, “ _Domat, alasokim!_ ”

Within seconds, every turian in the room with the exception of Corinn, Trierceo, and Orian had jumped to their feet and snapped to attention, while the krogan looked on in interest and the quarians tried (and failed) to copy the turians. Axilus couldn’t see anything beyond the point on the wall he was staring fixatedly at, but he could definitely hear the cause of his father’s sudden reaction.

_Clack._

_Clack._

_Clack._

There was a raspy cough and a clearing of a throat, then a voice roughened by age laughed and said, “Well, there’s a welcome for you. You all should come on board the _Albalin_ some time, show the greener recruits how it’s done. As you were.”

The tension drained out of the room like water from a sink, and Axilus turned to see his grandfather, face half-white with age, sauntering over to him, hooking the handle of his cane over one arm now that he’d both left the staircase and been sufficiently intimidating. “ _Parpat!_ ”

His grandfather grinned and touched his forehead to Axilus’. “Sorry I’m late, Fledge. Commanding officer of the entire Fifth Fleet, and somehow _I’m_ the one who has to sort out everyone’s little issues.” He rolled his eyes and pulled out a seat across from Corinn. “I put my foot down when the _Dexition_ ’s head engineer asked for help resolving a little spat down in his department. You’d think the whole damn fleet would crash into the sun without me around.”

Corinn chuckled. “I was wondering what was taking you so long. And hush, you know you like being needed. And the _Albalin_ ’s a far better sight than that trash heap _Velitis,_ with or without you around to tell everyone what to do.”

“The _Velitis_ was a _great_ ship, Cor.”

“It was the oldest ship in the entire Fifth Fleet!”

“Because _I liked it_.” He snorted, then looked at Axilus. “The _Anchrivos_ is fine, by the way, thank you for asking. I waived your AWOL status. You’re fucking welcome.”

Axilus felt his neck heat up and tried to shrink into his cowl, wishing he’d remembered which fleet the _Anchrivos_ was registered with before running into his grandfather- and, technically, until however long ago it had been, his commanding officer several rungs up. “Thank you, sir.”

His grandfather rolled his eyes, then turned his head to look at Thie, taking a deep sniff before asking, “So is this the ‘biotic’ quarian Adickis was shrieking his fool head off about?”

Both Thie and Axilus jumped, but Corinn’s only reaction was to scold, “ _Octyrus!_ Manners!”

“What? Nobody actually _likes_ Adanis, we just put up with him because he gets results. That doesn’t answer my question.”

Corinn sighed. “Yes, dear, that’s the biotic quarian. I can confirm. I visited him in the hospital and supervised his reimplantation surgery to make sure he didn’t go into cardiac arrest while they were playing the piano on his spinal cord.”

Thie demanded, “Wait, _what?_ ” at the same time that Octyrus tilted his head and asked, “What’s a piano?”

Corinn shrugged. “Iunno. The human doctor we called for reference suggested I say that while the kid was awake. Said it would be funny. Gotta say, it kind of was.”

“Cor, that was mean.”

“You let your son have a minor heart attack and call the room to attention for your own amusement.”

“I’m a general!”

“And I’m a doctor. Fight me.”

“Octyrus, good to see you.” Axilus’ mother chose that moment to slide into a seat next to her father-in-law, pressing her nasal plates to his cheek in a quick kiss of greeting.

Octyrus smiled and turned to her, reaching up with one arm to pull her into a side-hug. “Sephira, darling, lovely as ever. How’s work?”

“Classified.”

“I’d expect nothing less.”

Choosing to respectfully listen to the adults chatter, Axilus didn’t notice the little tap on his shoulder until it was less of a tap and more of a knock. He turned around to find Freiya standing behind him, hands behind her back and mandibles tilted upward in an amused little smile. “Hey, _culim_. _Dapsiven diendan._ ”

Axilus’ mandibles fluttered in time with his heart. “Freiya.”

She offered a hand, and he took it, allowing her to lead him to a quiet part of the kitchen. “We didn’t really get to talk the other night, what with… well. You know.”

Axilus nodded and squeezed her hand, Atis’ broken sobs echoing faintly in the back of his head. “Yeah. Sorry, I’ve been busy.”

“It’s alright, so’ve I. I’m getting stationed on Menae, under General Corinthus.”

Axilus blinked, then grinned. “Really? That’s awesome!”

She nodded proudly. “Dad’s been helping me get ready. I ship out late next week. Haven’t had a whole lot of spare time, but he says the more we get done now, the more time I’ll have to spend with everyone later.” Her voice got a little bit quieter. “Do you know what you’re going to do? I mean, I know the Cabals are an option, but…”

Axilus hesitated, then shook his head. “No. Not the Cabals. You know how they are, I might not see any of you again. Freiya, I might not even get to see my own mother all that often. It’d tear her apart. You saw her after Temple Palaven.” His mandibles flickered a tiny bit. “I can’t… I can’t put her through anything like that again. You don’t know how bad it feels, knowing your mom is _that_ upset and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Freiya reached up to cup his mandibles, stretching up to kiss him gently. “Shh. I understand. So, you’ll be off on some new adventure, on the run from any Hierarchy officials who might insist on kicking your ass into a Cabal unit, then?”

He managed a little smile despite her hands restricting his mandibles. “Guess so.”

“Mm, romantic. Sounds like something straight out of one of those B-flicks we used to watch on vid day at daycare.” She smiled and kissed him again, then let go of his face to hug him. “You call me whenever you get a chance, okay? The rest of the squad, too. We’ve been through too much shit together to drift apart now.”

He returned her hug and nodded against her neck, feeling his gut knot up as he realized what she was saying. “Spirits, _latrin_ , I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too, _suassi_. But promise me something, Ax.”

“Of course.”

She purred softly and smiled. “Don’t wait for me, yeah? We’re way too young to be committing just yet. If you find someone out there you like better than me, go for it. Just let me know first so I’m not waiting for someone who isn’t mine to have.”

Axilus considered, then nodded and leaned down so his forehead touched hers. “Only if you promise, too.”

She chuckled. “Deal. And one other thing- if either of us _does_ happen to find somebody else and get married, the other one has to be present at the wedding, no matter what. Special best friend privileges.”

He grinned. “I can do that.”

“Good.” Freiya clasped his hand and stepped back. “Stay in touch. I hear Menae’s picky about comms, but I’ll see what I can do and let you know.” She flicked one mandible. “And if I see anybody cute, I’ll send you a picture.”

Axilus smiled and nuzzled her. “You know me so well. _Noferit gremicis aetesem_ , Freiya.”

Freiya returned the gesture and fluttered her mandibles. “ _Sinat ven incipim_ , Axilus.” She hugged him, then met his eyes, her own sparkling. “Don’t leave me out of the adventure. Anything with a Madelivio involved is bound to be one hell of a story.”

He laughed and shoved her a little. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you updated.”

“Hey, if you two are done with your heartwarming official farewell, then let’s get going!”

Axilus’ head snapped around to see his mother watching them with an amused tilt to her mandibles, arms folded across her chest as the others around her bustled about. “Huh?”

His mother chuckled and made her way over. “Your grandfather was complaining that he hasn’t seen you or Tol in combat yet, so someone suggested we go to a combat sim and have some matchups between whoever wants to join in. You two coming?”

Axilus and Freiya looked at each other, then back at Axilus’ mother and nodded eagerly. “Let’s go!”

“Good. There’ll be fifteen minutes for everyone to grab equipment and get to the arena. Hop to it.”

She drifted away, and Freiya glanced at Axilus, one mandible lowered. “I was going to suggest we slip off and you could have my present first, but this seems a bit more fun. You mind?”

Axilus laughed. “Nah. Wait ‘til you see the armor my dad got me. It’s _way_ better than standard-issue.”

“We’ll see about that in the ring.”


	11. If Only Sucker's Bets Were That Easy

The arena was never not a hub of activity, but the crowds made more than enough room for the krogan pushing through, and by extension the gaggle of turians and two quarians following them (Thie, to his never-ending displeasure, had been picked up and carried by Raik). The turians were a lively bunch, excitedly comparing scuffs and chinks in their armor and arguing over whose gun was better. Only a small handful of them had opted out; all of the Madelivio men, Sephira, and Freiya and her sister Aelim would be going into the sim with the krogan while the three quarians and the remaining turians sat out and observed from the sidelines.

Thie was gently set down on a bench overlooking the combat field, and Kel sat next to him to help him stay propped up. After a moment, Orian slid in on his other side, just as the first matchup was announced.

_[Arena matchup: General Octyrus Madelivio, Major Aephis Madelivio, and Tollak and Axilus Madelivio versus Staff Sergeant Sephira Actinus.]_

Thie blinked as the five turians started filing onto the field. Wait.

Kel got what sounded wrong with that before he did. “Four against one? That’s not fair!”

On Thie’s other side, Orian flicked a mandible. “She’ll be fine. Seph’s tougher than she looks.”

“But they’ve got a general! And a major! And she’s- wait, she’s a staff sergeant?”

Orian chuckled. “Technically, yes. The Turian Engineering Corps is still military, it’s just that most of them are noncombatants and choose not to use their official rank for anything but paperwork. So you’ll never hear anybody call Seph anything but ‘ma’am.’ Or her married title, Mistress Actinus. But _never_ Sergeant Actinus.”

Kel looked like he was about to protest more, but then the arena VI spoke again. _[Round one. Begin.]_

And Sephira promptly vanished.

Thie blinked. Some tactical cloak. The four males slowly formed a ragged circle with their backs to each other, then spread out, heads twitching back and forth as they searched.

Then there was a flash of white off in a corner. Axilus was closest, and spun to shoot.

He hit the ground before he could get off a shot.

There was a roar from the spectators as Axilus dropped, and Kel jumped to his feet. “What? What just happened? What the _fuck_?”

Thie didn’t know if he was more surprised by Sephira landing a hit or by Kel knowing how to swear. Either way, Orian didn’t seem phased in the slightest, simply flicking a mandible and frowning slightly at the screen, which was now showing an instant replay of Axilus going down. He’d just gotten his rifle up to proper height for aiming when a shot caught him in the back of his cowl, then a second in the same spot. The force of impact knocked him over onto his face, and no sooner had he started headed that way than the commentators cut away to a map of the arena and started analyzing where the shots might have come from and just what that flash of white had been. All they could agree on was that Sephira had a few tricks up her sleeves.

The match resumed, Axilus now safely removed from the line of fire. The three remaining Madelivios reformed their circle, now seemingly on full alert, heads flicking back and forth to watch a wider area with Axilus gone.

It would have been a sound strategy if they’d watched the area between them.

There was a flicker in the center of the circle, then Sephira’s drone formed. It had chosen just the right spot, in everyone’s blind spot.

So the path was totally clear for it to buzz up to Aephis and deliver what Thie could only assume was a powerful shock. And down Aephis went, just as Tollak and Octyrus spun to shoot the drone down.

The audience was reeling, the commentators calling for someone to try and get a number on how much voltage that drone had sent out. Thie thought he saw one of the artificial trees at the edge of the ring shudder, but it only lasted a second before it was completely still again.

Aephis was pulled out, and Thie swore you could cut the tension with a knife. Axilus hadn’t been a lucky ploy. Sephira knew what she was doing, and she was toying with her prey. Thie was suddenly very glad he hadn’t been brought into this match, too.

Octyrus conferred with Tollak briefly, then they split up, apparently deciding the “watch each other’s backs” strategy wasn’t going to work. Tollak vanished, and Octyrus took cover under an overhang, pistol clutched tightly in one hand.

All was silent for a minute, two minutes, three. Then there was a flicker of motion in the center of the arena, and Sephira herself appeared, poised primly on top of a rock, arms folded neatly behind her. Immediately, the arena was full of gunshots as both remaining Madelivios unloaded full clips into the pearly white turian standing unflinchingly in the middle of the arena.

Sephira flickered.

And then exploded.

Thie had to work not to jump to his feet. “Decoy!” he blurted.

“We noticed.” Orian chuckled. “I told you she could handle herself.”

Meanwhile, down in the arena, the decoy’s detonation had overloaded Tollak’s tactical cloak and sent him flying. He seemed no worse for wear, rubbing at the back of his head as medics helped him to his feet to leave the area. The commentators were making jokes about a “Madelivio miracle,” whatever the hell _that_ was.

The moment the doors closed again, Octyrus pulled himself out of his little hidey-hole, head sweeping back and forth as he looked for Sephira. The cameras showed his nasal plates twitching a mile a minute, rapidly trying to sniff out his daughter-in-law.

He needn’t have tried so hard, because there was a brief glimmer, then Sephira appeared in the same place the decoy had stood moments ago, sitting with her sniper rifle laid across her legs and her mandibles spread in a broad grin. “So,” she called across the field, “what do you think of my new toys?”

Octyrus paused, shifting into a more defensive stance. “Impressive,” he said warily, “though I have to question just where you got them.”

Sephira shrugged and held up one hand under the guise of inspecting her talons, though her gaze remained locked on Octyrus. “That’s classified.”

One of Octyrus’ mandibles twitched. “By the Hierarchy, or by you?”

“Why can’t it be both?” she said in a cloyingly sweet voice. “Don’t you trust me, _iupat_?”

“Usually, yes.” Octyrus raised his pistol at the same time Sephira hoisted up her rifle and fitted it smoothly against her shoulder. “However, in this case, _lidan_ … no.”

Both turians rocked back from recoil, but only one, extra-loud gunshot rang through the arena, followed by a single _thud_ as both bodies were knocked to the ground.

Thie stared in stunned silence as the arena VI announced the results of the match. While Sephira had racked up more points, both teams had been completely eliminated, so it was a tie. Beside him, Orian laughed uproariously, doubling over as she tried to contain herself to little avail.

Kel was a little more vocal than Thie. “What just happened?”

Orian chuckled and managed to get herself under control in time to gasp for air and respond, “My baby girl just kicked ass, that’s what.”

Thie stared, then shook his head as the VI announced the next match. “ _Turians._ ”


	12. Anyway, Here's Wonderwall

Sephira’s apartment teemed with activity, with everyone available helping put things together for Tollak to return to active duty, the end of his medical leave fast approaching. With Trierceo and Orian gone back to their home a continent away, Octyrus back with his fleet, and Corinn… doing surgeon things, the apartment was down to four turians, and about to be short one more. So Kel and Siri pitched in where they could, helping Sephira do laundry and other little chores to make sure Tollak had everything he needed.

Thie, meanwhile, was still stuck on crutches and of no use to basically anyone.

So while the family of turians bustled around him, he just changed positions every now and then to stay out of the way.

During a relatively quiet moment, while the brothers and Aephis were tucked away in Tollak’s room to pack, he found himself near a wall neatly covered in picture frames, arranged in a starburst sort of pattern. After a moment of glancing around, he shrugged and moved to get a better look at the pictures.

In the center was a picture of two turians immediately recognizable as Sephira and Aephis, though Thie didn’t think he’d ever seen any sort of clothing even remotely similar to what they were wearing in the photo. Sephira was draped in elegant black sashes, artfully arranged to emphasize the green stripes tattooed all along her carapace, and her head was crowned with a headdress sort of thing made up of violet and green quills. Aephis, while sporting a similar style of clothing, wore a blue the same shade as turian blood, and lacked the showy headdress. Dimly, he realized this must be their wedding picture- the clothes had a distinct traditional air, the two of them looked younger (though that was hard to tell with turians), and there were no signs of either of their two children anywhere in the photo.

He allowed his gaze to drift upwards, to a photo of three turians, two adults and a child. The child could only be Sephira, her pearly plates and blue-gray skin a distinct contrast to the adults. She held the hand of an enormous dark copper male he was startled to realize must be Trierceo, albeit a younger and more relaxed-looking Trierceo than the prickly elder he’d met a couple weeks prior, which meant the bronze female beside him had to be Orian. Thie squinted a bit and did his best to get a closer look, vaguely interested in what a turian child looked like before they hit the growth spurt that turned them into hulking piles of plates like Axilus.

He had to step back quickly. Child Sephira’s eyes, while difficult to make out in the portrait from such a distance and angle, very clearly held a haunted look, one that stared deep into Thie’s heart and called up memories of taunts and shouts and harsh words.

He shook himself and quickly looked down, skipping over the wedding photo to what Thie supposed, if the organization was symmetrical, was probably a portrait of Aephis’ side of the family. And it didn’t disappoint. Somehow, it didn’t surprise Thie to see Aephis, the lone maroon of three children, was the biggest, and thus probably oldest, child. A girl closer to Octyrus’ coloring, brown with not a trace of red, stood next to him, her father’s hand on her shoulder while Aephis stood against his mother’s legs, her arms loosely hanging down to hold him close. A third child, a darker gray than his mother but not quite black, sat on Octyrus’ shoulders, not even looking at the camera but at an insect flitting about his head.

The nearest photo to that one was Aephis alone, decked out in full officer’s regalia. He was just leaning in closer to get a better look at what an elite SpecOps officer wore as dress blues when a voice sounded behind him, making him jump.

“Magnificent, isn’t he?” Sephira came plodding up next to him, arms folded neatly behind her back. “He worked for every rank, you know. We’re not like some species, where you can go to a school to become an officer. You start from the bottom and work your way up, or your bars mean nothing to us.”

Thie looked up at her, wondering if she scared everyone like that or just him. “You’ve, um. You’ve got a lot of pictures.”

Sephira flicked a mandible. “Growing up a freak and a fetish, you start to fear that all you know is a lie, and you’re being taken advantage of. Or worse, you dreamed up everything and you’re living in a very detailed hallucination. So I keep pictures of everything as tactile evidence it’s not a dream.” She raised an arm and tapped on one frame, holding a picture of a group of turian chicks playing with scores of toys, taken from above to show the intricate battlefield they’d set up. “Ax and his friends used to bring out as many toys as they could carry to each other’s apartments and have these huge wars between their armies. Every now and then, I’ll find a little plastic soldier that got left behind. I put them all in Ax’s room. Tollak didn’t like playing with soldiers, so none of them could be his. He loved starships, though.” She gestured toward another picture, of Octyrus holding a little bronze chick in his lap and holding a toy cruiser aloft, mouth and mandibles poised like he was in the middle of telling some grand war story while baby Tollak listened in rapt attention.

Thie blinked, looking at the vast array of photos. “Who took all these?”

Sephira shrugged. “The more recent ones are the drone’s work. I took a look at how the camera on my omni-tool works, then installed one on Solas when I got bored, and added some programming to allow it to recognize what I would consider a good picture and take the shot when it could, plus a toggle switch so I’m not getting a zillion different pictures at any given time. It’s smart, but not so smart it knows when to stop taking pictures.” She chuckled a bit. “The rest are either professional photographers or impromptu shots with an omni-tool camera. I’ve missed a lot of good shots because I couldn’t get the camera out fast enough.” She looked around the wall, then pointed to one at about Thie’s shoulder height. In it, baby Axilus was sitting with his legs splayed and a rather confused look on his face, staring at a winged… thing impaled on his talons. “He jumped twice his own height to catch that. He underestimated the strength in his own legs and overshot, then got it on the way down. I wanted to get him at the peak, but the stupid app didn’t load until after he’d landed.”

Thie listened as she continued to point out pictures and tell the stories behind them, watching her face while she talked. There was a light in her eyes that shone when she talked about years-old memories- the first time she was able to see for herself she hadn’t passed on her bad genes, and her newborn son wouldn’t suffer the fate of an albino as his mother had; Axilus’ _mirogen syromas_ , an informal ritual when turian infants were passed around to their clan members in a room so they would smell them and know they belonged and were loved, and Axilus reached up to the older turians holding them and asked to play; dancing at her wedding with her father and assuring him she’d be okay without him to watch out for her. Sephira’s words from a few minutes ago flitted back to him, and he realized she wasn’t just happy about the event in her memory, but that it existed at all, that here was proof she wasn’t imagining the people she loved and who loved her in turn.

Sephira’s stories spun an intricate tale of interlocking threads, each with their own name and personality. Lilacia, the mechanic from the ship Sephira had served on during mandatory, who would take her out for drinks on bad nights and keep unwanted suitors away. Sennix, Aephis’ little brother who married out of the Madelivio name and collaborated with her to annoy Aephis. Gahlan, the cranky young medic-in-training from her training squadron who was always fighting with her over wearing the balm to protect her plates but was ultimately a friend. Each appeared in at least one photo on the wall, and each was spoken of fondly. To his surprise, there was even a picture of Siri included on the wall. The diminutive quarian looked almost comically small next to the towering form of Sephira herself, holding a panel while Sephira stretched up to the top of what looked to be an in-progress drive core to replace some part Thie couldn’t distinguish if you paid him.

Following her hand to another picture, he noticed one that didn’t hold any chicks or even vaguely familiar markings. At first, he thought it was another of Sephira, but then quickly dismissed that idea. While the turian in the picture, standing tall and proud in full dress blues, had the same ethereal appearance, easily attributed to the unnaturally white plates and blue-gray skin, this was a male, with a long, spiny crest, and the jutting cheek spines he’d seen on pictures of Saren. But Saren, if he remembered correctly, was more spindly than this turian, and definitely didn’t have the stark blue lines running through his eyes and down his chin.

And then he realized the only person it could be.

“That’s him, isn’t it?” he asked softly. “Desolas.”

Sephira paused and followed his gaze, mandibles fluttering slowly in some unknowable emotion. Then she said, in a quiet little voice, “Yeah.” She was silent for a moment, gazing at the picture of the fallen general, then simply said, “I miss him.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment, then Sephira shook herself slightly and moved on to another picture, her moment of grief discarded like a cloak. Thie gazed at the picture of Desolas a moment longer, then turned his head and continued listening to her brag about Tollak’s induction ceremony, vaguely wondering if maybe he should have just not pointed it out in the first place.


	13. Not as Much of a Dick as You Could Have Been

Tollak’s bags were packed and waiting by the door, his belongings that would remain at home neatly tucked away where they belonged, and a promise wrangled out of his brother (forcefully, by pinning him to the ground and tickling that sensitive spot at the base of his neck, which was much harder to do now that Axilus was no longer a nine-year-old pipsqueak) that he wouldn’t go in his room, ever, unless Mom told him to put something in there for her, as moms were wont to do. All that was left was to say good-bye and leave.

It was harder, somehow, than when he’d left for basic seven years ago. He’d noticed the last couple times he’d been able to come home on leave that it got harder to leave each time. There was just something about staying with his parents for a couple weeks, with hot meals and a soft bed and people who loved him and were willing to take care of him no matter how badly he misbehaved.

It could also, of course, have something to do with the fear in his mother’s eyes as she made him swear on the spirit of Palaven themselves he’d be careful and come home safe.

Seeing the terror in her eyes made part of him want to react the way a nestling would, and cling to her and refuse to leave no matter how hard anybody tried to pry him off. But the more rational side of him calmly said that that would just upset her more, so he did his best to accept the hug that was a little too long and a little too tight with dignity and force down the panic that rose in his throat at the thought that his mother was upset.

In the back of his mind, as he had every time he’d had to return to active duty, he promised himself he wouldn’t make her suffer the way she’d screamed and shaken and bawled over Uncle Solas, wouldn’t be the cause for the next time you could hear her heart being torn asunder through her voice.

So he swallowed his fear and returned his mother’s hug, and didn’t complain when she kissed both cheeks and his nose, and assured her he’d be careful, he’d stay safe, he’d call whenever he got the chance, and he loved her very much.

His father was always the stoic one, who clasped his forearms for the briefest of moments before making him promise to stay in touch and sending him on his way. But something about Axilus’ squad’s fate and the grief-stricken cries that still sometimes echoed through the complex from the apartment next door must have shaken him, because instead of accepting a simple forearm-clasp, he pulled Tollak in close and tucked his head against his, eyes closed. Tollak was absolutely still, not daring to question his father just now, not when he was showing emotion over something routine.

His father was quiet for a few moments, then he heaved a sigh and gently kissed Tollak’s brow. “Be careful, would you? Come back to us.”

_Like Dantae didn’t._

The unspoken words hung heavy in the air, and Tollak nodded to scare them away. “I will, Dad. I promise.”

And then there was Axilus. The little brother who wasn’t so little anymore, who still went running to their mother the moment he needed anything. He was stupid, and kind of a baby, and Tollak was still a little bit surprised every time he looked up to find Axilus towered over him and was not, in fact, still a nestling clinging to his mother’s hand and hiding behind her legs. Axilus looked at him with an odd look in his eyes- not the haunted, frightened-for-his-safety kinds of looks their parents had given him, but at the same time not the “oh good, you’re leaving, now I can go through your room and eat all the food I know you hide in there” sort of mischievous look he’d worn that one last time Tollak had finished his leave before Axilus himself went off to basic. His little brother’s subvocals were wobbly, like he wasn’t sure what he was feeling.

So Tollak did the good big brother thing to do and hugged him.

That seemed to help. Axilus’ subvocals settled, and he nuzzled him with the same just-a-little-too-harsh enthusiasm he displayed for everything. “Bye, Tol,” he said. “Miss you.”

Tollak smiled a little and let out a reassuring purr. “Take care of yourself, Ax. And keep me updated.”

“Only if _you_ keep _me_ updated, too.”

He released his brother and clasped forearms with him, touching their brow plates together. “Deal.”

Axilus grinned, knocking his head against Tollak’s affectionately, then backed off to allow him to pick up his duffel from where it lay at his feet and hoist it up onto one shoulder. It wasn’t a very far walk to the spaceport, so he was going to walk on his own. It wasn’t like he had an assload of stuff to carry. Just his duffel bag and the footlocker waiting by the door.

He was maybe halfway to the door when he paused, then turned around and strolled back to the guest room, making sure to walk like he’d forgotten something important. Which, in a way, he had.

The blue quarian was sitting on the bed, playing games on his omni-tool. The aliens had all opted to scatter while the family said their good-byes, but since this one (Thie, right? Or was this one Kel? The only one he knew for sure was the girl, Siri. _Marmat_ always said being bad with names ran in the family) was still confined to crutches, he’d just hidden in the guest room while the others went out into the city.

The quarian looked up when he entered, looking startled that it was Tollak who walked in. “I thought you were leaving.”

“I am.” Tollak trotted over to the bed, set down his duffel, and tucked his hands behind his back. “I wanted to apologize for how I acted a few weeks ago. I know I should have earlier, but Ax is the chatty one, not me.”

The quarian blinked, then frowned. “And why do you care?”

Tollak flicked a mandible. “Because you’re my brother’s friend, and he’s going to go off adventuring with you and the others. I know it might not seem like it, but I actually do like my brother.” He unclasped his hands so he could fold his arms across his chest. “So consider this a warning. Take care of my baby brother.” He smirked. “I only apologized for being a dick, not shooting you in the head and groin. Keep Ax alive, and you can consider _that_ apology offered. Deal?” He held out a hand to shake, if the quarian so desired.

The quarian’s eyes had gone wide behind his mask, but he nodded after a moment’s consideration and reached out to shake Tollak’s hand. “Deal.”

“Good.” Tollak grinned and picked his duffel back up, then made for the door. “Then I’d better get going. Good luck.”


End file.
